Storm Eunice live: Damage could cost £360m as hundreds of thousands still without power

Damage caused by Storm Eunice could cost more than £360 million, insurers have warned.

Hundreds of thousands of people were still without power on Saturday morning and travel services continued to be disrupted after record-breaking gales struck Britain on Friday.

At least four people died during the horror storm, including a woman who was killed when a falling tree hit a car in Highgate.

A clean-up is set to begin after the storm brought record-breaking gusts of wind to the UK and Ireland.

National Rail said “routes across most of Great Britain” remain affected on Saturday morning, with disruption set to continue throughout the day.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) warned previous similar storms have cost around £360 million in repairs.

Rapper Dave’s O2 arena concerts postponed after Storm Eunice damage

20:17 , Anthony France

Rapper Dave’s upcoming O2 arena concerts have been postponed after parts of the London venue’s roof was ripped off by Storm Eunice.

The musician’s gigs were supposed to take place on Monday and Tuesday of next week, but will now take place on an as yet unconfirmed date in the future.

The O2 has said that all tickets will remain valid for the new dates.

In a statement provided by The O2, Dave said he will be “back with a plan” by the end of Monday.

“Devastating news, The O2 have told us Monday and Tuesday’s shows can’t happen due to what the storm did to the roof of the venue,” he said.

“We are doing everything we can to reschedule the shows to play as soon as humanly possible. Right now we do not know when The O2 arena will be open again for events but they’ve told us it shouldn’t be too long.

“We await information from the venue. I’ll be back with a plan as soon as I have it. By the end of Monday I hope.”

Storm Eunice: Tributes to ‘loving’ father, 23, killed by tree

20:06 , Anthony France

A “loving” father who died when a tree fell and crashed a truck has been named as his family paid tribute.

Jack Bristow, 23, was one of at least four victims of 122mph Storm Eunice on Friday.

A 40ft tree fell on to the roof of a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter pick-up in Old Odiham Road, Alton in Hampshire.

Emergency services rushed to the scene.

Father-of-one Mr Bristow, the passenger, was sadly pronounced dead just before midday.

His friend, the driver, remains in hospital with serious injuries.

Storm Eunice: Severn and Prince of Wales bridge reopen

18:36 , Anthony France

The M48 Severn Bridge has reopened after being closed due to Storm Eunice.

Operators said they would continued to monitor wind speeds over the crossing.

The M4 Prince of Wales Bridge reopened to traffic on Friday.

It was thought to be the first time both bridges had closed to all traffic because of high winds.

13,000 without power in Cornwall

17:16 , Anthony France

More than 13,000 properties in Cornwall remain without power as a result of Storm Eunice.

Western Power Distribution is working to restore power to affected homes by midnight on Monday.

Cornwall Council is working with Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service and Western Power Distribution to establish community spaces at six fire stations for affected residents to access hot drinks, use microwaves, fill up flasks and hot water bottles and charge mobile phones.

The stations are Bodmin, Saltash, Falmouth, Bude, Liskeard and St Keverne and will be open until 6.30pm on Saturday and from 10am to 6pm on Sunday.

Nearly 200,000 still without power

16:44 , Anthony France

In an update on Saturday, the Energy Networks Association said about 195,000 customers remained without power in the South, Wales and East, while some 1.2 million had been reconnected.

Queen Elizabeth II bridge reopens

16:35 , Anthony France

The Queen Elizabeth II bridge, which is part of the Dartford Crossing, was reopened on Saturday.

The M48 Severn Bridge, linking England and Wales across the River Severn, was closed due to high winds. It will remain closed in both directions until Sunday afternoon.

TfL and London Overground train services return

16:16 , Anthony France

Services on C2C, Caledonian Sleeper, East Midlands Railway, Grand Central, Hull Trains, London Overground, Lumo, Merseyrail, Northern, ScotRail, and TfL Rail had returned to normal by 4pm on Saturday.

More gale-force winds forecast as Storm Eunice clean-up continues

16:12 , Anthony France

Strong winds of up to 70mph are set to sweep the UK in the coming days, disrupting travel, power supplies and Storm Eunice recovery efforts, forecasters have warned

The Met Office has issued yellow warnings for wind covering most of the UK on Sunday and Monday, after northern England faced blizzard-like conditions on Saturday afternoon.

Meanwhile, thousands of homes are still without power after Eunice hit parts of the UK on Friday, and insurers said clean-up costs could rise above £300 million.

15:51 , Anthony France

Travellers are continuing to face disruption across the UK in the aftermath of Storm Eunice.

Many train services remain suspended on Saturday and “do not travel” notices are in place for some routes.

Snow in Yorkshire

15:32 , Sami Quadri

Oak tree destroys home in Essex

15:08 , Sami Quadri

Members of the public brace the wet and windy weather in Westminster

14:27 , Sami Quadri

1.2 million people have had power restored

14:23 , Sami Quadri

Storm Eunice forces postponements in Football League

13:07 , Sami Quadri

Several matches in the Footall League have been called off following damage caused by Storm Eunice.

Salford’s Sky Bet League Two clash with Crawley on Saturday was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch.

The playing surface at the Peninsula Stadium was judged to be unplayable after a second inspection following continued heavy rain.

A statement on the cub’s official website read: “The surface passed a preliminary pitch inspection by the match official at 9am, with the officials due to return at 12:30pm.

“However rainfall continuously fell throughout the morning, and when we requested that the match referee return earlier to re-assess and he deemed the surface unplayable.”

In League One, heavy snow put pay to Fleetwood’s home clash with Lincoln.

Blackburn’s fixture at home to Millwall got the go ahead after an inspection, with further checks due at other grounds ahead of kick-off.

02 Arena to remain closed for the weekend following roof collapse

11:54 , Sami Quadri

Flat roof blown onto nearby house in Southampton

11:28 , Sami Quadri

People urged not to travel on South Western Railway

11:17 , Sami Quadri

South Western Railway has urged people not to travel, with the operator saying more than 40 falling trees are still blocking the line.

Passengers wait at Waterloo station following delays

11:09 , Sami Quadri

02 Arena following roof collapse

11:05 , Sami Quadri

Eunice was ‘one of the worst storms in decades’

10:51 , Sami Quadri

Meteorologist Greg Dewhurst said Eunice was one of the worst storms in decades.

“The 122mph statistic was a new provisional record for England in terms of wind gusts,” he said.

“But it’s also about how widespread the storm was, so we will be looking at whether this storm was worse than the Burns Night storm (in 1990), or the one in 1987 when gusts were around 80 to 90mph – but the damage may have been more widespread.”

Mr Dewhurst added that gusts reached 70mph at Heathrow, where planes struggled to land and thousands of people tuned in to watch on YouTube channel Big Jet TV.

Winds in inner-city London reached speeds of 59mph, he added.

He warned travellers to brace for more windy weather in the coming days.

“We’ll see gusts through the day of up to 40 to 60mph, particularly around the coasts,” Mr Dewhurst said.

“This will have an impact on the clearing up process over the course of the day.

“We will see a slight easing in the wind over the evening time tonight but it’s not long before they pick up again tomorrow to lead to another windy day across the UK.”

Construction site along the River Thames is damaged

10:49 , Sami Quadri

Storm damage could cost £360 million

10:14 , Tammy Hughes

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) warned previous similar storms have cost around £360 million in repairs.

An ABI spokesperson said: “It is too early to estimate the likely insured cost of Storm Eunice, when insurers will be focusing on assessing damage, and helping their customers recover.

“No two storms are the same. The last significant storms to hit the UK – Ciara and Dennis – led to insurers paying out over £360 million.”

Storm damage could cost £360 million

10:14 , Tammy Hughes

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) warned previous similar storms have cost around £360 million in repairs.

An ABI spokesperson said: “It is too early to estimate the likely insured cost of Storm Eunice, when insurers will be focusing on assessing damage, and helping their customers recover.

“No two storms are the same. The last significant storms to hit the UK – Ciara and Dennis – led to insurers paying out over £360 million.”

Transport Secretary warns of further disruption

10:02 , Sami Quadri

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps says the public should expect disruption for the rest of the day after Storm Eunice.

He told broadcasters: “Teams have working through the night to try to get road and rail reopened.

“But of course, expect disruption today - trains are in the wrong locations, there’s still debris being removed from our roads, airports are expected to be very busy with people catching up with flights.

“So expect disruption, do check before you travel... but things are returning to normal.”

Person stands near fallen tree in Cemetery Park in Cornwall

09:40 , Sami Quadri

Big Jet TV attracts over 5 million viewers for Heathrow commentary

09:30 , Sami Quadri

Jerry Dyer, who runs the YouTube channel Big Jet TV, said his efforts to livestream aircraft battling with high winds as they attempt to land at London’s Heathrow Airport during Storm Eunice attracted more than five million viewers.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Dyer said: “Yesterday, when the whole Storm Eunice, and prior to that Storm Dudley… I said in the morning… I wonder if we can possibly reach 30,000 people watching live, as many as we did during Storm Ciara.

“Every now and then you’d glance at the number of people watching and you’re like, 88,000 people… 105,000 people – it was just going mad.

“At the end of the day we ended up with… normally we’d have about 100,000-plus views, and we had, from when I went to sleep last night, it was 5.5 million views.”

Mr Dyer said at one point there were 238,000 viewers watching live during the channel’s peak popularity on Friday.

Today presenter Nick Robinson said: “They dream of that at GB News, I’ll tell you that. It was an extraordinary number of people watching.”

London Fire Brigade received almost 2,000 calls during Storm Eunice

09:29 , Sami Quadri

London Fire Brigade said it took 1,958 calls on Friday as Storm Eunice hit the capital – three times more than the previous day.

The service tweeted: “Although the worst of #StormEunice is over its affect may extend into the coming days. Please be aware of the potential for loose structures or falling debris”.

Tree blocks road in Cornwall

09:22 , Sami Quadri

Disruption on London Underground

09:17 , Sami Quadri

On the London Underground, the Waterloo & City line service is closed with partial suspensions and closures on the Bakerloo, Northern and Metropolitan lines in addition to the London Overground.

Minor delays have been reported on the Circle and Hammersmith lines.

Roadside filled with fallen debris on Kilburn Park Road

08:35 , Sami Quadri

Thameslink services disrupted

08:32 , Sami Quadri

Travelling between London and the South West will be difficult today

08:07 , Sami Quadri

Great Western Railway has warned that its services will be “significantly disrupted” today due to the fact that hundreds of miles of track needs to be safety checked.

The operator runs trains between London Paddington and Somerset, Devon and Cornwall.

It says this morning: “Work continues to clear debris from the tracks, and move trains and staff to where they need to be to safely run our planned timetable.

“However, the extent of the work and the fact that hundreds of miles of track needs to be safety checked, means that train services will continue to be significantly disrupted on Saturday.

“We continue to advise customers not to travel at this time.”

Trains will not start on the line until at least 10am, with services in Devon and Cornwall not starting until 1pm.

GWR has apologised for the disruption.

Huge waves could be seen in Brighton on Saturday morning

08:01 , Tammy Hughes

The M48 Severn Bridge remains closed to all traffic following Storm Eunice

07:49 , Sami Quadri

A spokesman for the Severn crossings said the bridge would not reopen until a detailed inspection had been carried out on Saturday morning.

The M4 Prince of Wales Bridge reopened on Friday afternoon.

It was believed to be the first time both crossings had been closed at the same time due severe winds.

Record-breaking winds recorded in England

07:37 , Sami Quadri

Winds of 122mph were provisionally recorded at the Needles on the Isle of Wight on Friday.

If verified, it would be the highest gusts ever recorded in England.

The previous record was 118mph at Gwennap Head in Cornwall in 1979.

Train services remain unopened

07:27 , Tammy Hughes

Many train services will remain unopened on Saturday morning and do not travel notices have been reissued for a number of services, according to National Rail Enquiries.

A do not travel notice was reissued for the Southern, Thameslink and Great Northern networks for Saturday morning where some routes are expected not to reopen until the afternoon.

South Western Railway expects significant disruption across their network in the morning, while Great Western Railway and Greater Anglia services are suspended until approximately 10am.

Passengers are still being asked to avoid travelling where possible.