Millions told to stay home as UK braces for hurricane-force winds

Millions of people in the U.K. were urged to cancel travel plans and stay indoors Friday as the second major storm this week prompted warnings of high winds and flying debris across northern Europe.

Britain's weather service said Storm Eunice, known as Storm Zeynep in Germany, was likely to cause significant disruption and dangerous conditions, with gusts that may exceed 144 km/h in highly exposed coastal areas. 

The Met Office later said a 196 km/h gust was recorded on the Isle of Wight, provisionally the strongest ever recorded in England.

Waves crash over a breakwater and lighthouse in Newhaven, England, as a storm hits the south coast on Friday. (Matt Dunham/The Associated Press)

Authorities in the U.K. took the unusual step of issuing "red" warnings -- indicating a danger to life -- for parts of southwest England between 7 a.m. and noon local time, and for southeast England and London from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. A lower-level amber warning for gusts up to 128 km/h covers the whole of England from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Eunice is the second named storm to hit Europe in two days, with the first storm killing at least five people in Germany and Poland.

Peter Inness, a meteorologist at the University of Reading in England, attributed the storms to an unusually strong jet stream over the eastern Atlantic Ocean, with winds close to 320 km/h at high altitudes.

'A production line of storms'

"A strong jet stream like this can act like a production line for storms, generating a new storm every day or two," Inness said. "There have been many occasions in the recent past when two or more damaging storms have passed across the U.K. and other parts of Europe in the space of a few days."

Even before the forecast high winds arrived, Eunice was already wreaking havoc with travel across southern England and Wales with many train services interrupted and numerous flights cancelled. A number of tourist attractions in England, including the London Eye, Legoland and Warwick Castle, closed ahead of the storm.

"I urge all Londoners to stay at home, do not take risks and do not travel unless it is absolutely essential," Mayor Sadiq Khan said.

WATCH | Planes struggle to land at London's Heathrow Airport:

Planes struggle to land in strong wind at London's Heathrow airport2 hours ago

Duration 1:00

Passenger jets struggled to land at London's Heathrow airport on Friday due to high winds from Storm Eunice. 1:00

The U.K. government is set to hold a meeting of its COBRA emergency committee to discuss the storm. The army is on "high readiness standby" to respond if needed, Home Office Minister Damian Hinds told Sky News.

The Environment Agency has issued 10 severe flood warnings, another indicator of life-threatening weather conditions.

"After the impacts from Storm Dudley for many on Wednesday, Storm Eunice will bring damaging gusts in what could be one of the most impactful storms to affect southern and central parts of the U.K. for a few years," said Paul Gundersen, the Met Office's chief meteorologist. "The red warning areas indicate a significant danger to life as extremely strong winds provide the potential for damage to structures and flying debris."

Germany next

The storm is expected to hit northern Germany on Friday afternoon and sweep eastward overnight. A flood warning was issued for Germany's North Sea coast on Friday.

Meteorologists warned Friday's storm could cause more damage than the earlier weather system, which triggered accidents that killed at least three people, toppled trees and damaged roofs and railroad tracks.

Pedestrians struggle against the high winds as they cross the Millennium Bridge, near St Paul's Cathedral, in central London on Friday. (Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images)

The Dutch weather institute issued its highest warning, code red, for coastal regions and code orange for much of the Netherlands as Eunice bore down on the low-lying nation. The country's rail company said it would halt all trains nationwide from 2 p.m. local time and airline KLM also cancelled dozens of flights at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.

At Scheveningen Beach in The Hague, authorities built walls of sand around beach bars to protect them from the wind, while dozens of surfers braved the weather in search of waves kicked up by the storm.

The Dutch soccer association postponed all professional and amateur matches scheduled for Friday because of the storm.

Storm could produce 'sting jet'

Storm Eunice has produced heightened concern because it has the potential to produce a "sting jet," a small area of intense winds that may exceed 160 km/h.

One example of such a phenomenon occurred during what's known as the Great Storm of 1987, which killed 18 people and knocked down 15 million trees across the U.K., according to the Met Office.

"Eunice looks like it may be able to produce a 'sting jet', a narrow, focused region of extremely strong winds embedded within the larger area of strong winds and lasting just a few hours," Inness said.

Train operators across Britain urged passengers to avoid travelling on Friday.

British Airways warned of delays at London's Heathrow Airport because the weather has reduced the rate at which aircraft are permitted to land.

"High winds and poor weather may cause last-minute delays, but we will do everything in our power to minimize any disruption that results," the airline said.

Warnings to 'vulnerable' vehicles 

The government highway agency said high-sided vehicles and other "vulnerable" vehicles, such as caravans and motorbikes, could be blown over and should avoid bridges and viaducts.

Anyone travelling should "plan your trip and take extra care, allowing more time for your journey," said Jeremy Phillips, head of road safety for Highways England.

"In the event of persistent high winds, we may need to close bridges to traffic for a period, so please be alert for warnings of closures and follow signed diversion routes," he added.

A truck that was blown over in high winds is pictured on Friday. (Jacob King/PA via The Associated Press)

Richard Allan, a professor of climate science at the University of Reading, said that while once-in-a-decade storms like Eunice are certain to batter the British Isles in the future, there is no compelling evidence that they will become more frequent or potent in terms of wind speeds.

"Yet with more intense rainfall and higher sea levels as human activity continues to heat the planet, flooding from coastal storm surges and prolonged deluges will be worse when these rare, explosive storms hit us in a warmer world," he said.

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