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One person dead after Storm Isha batters UK

A car is submerged in water after the River Eden burst its banks near Carlisle in England
A car is submerged in water after the River Eden burst its banks near Carlisle in England

A pensioner has died, and thousands of homes remain without power after Storm Isha battered the UK with gusts of up to 159km/h.

Transport services were also disrupted with roads closed, rail lines blocked, and flights diverted, while dozens of schools were shut.

An 84-year-old man died during Storm Isha after the car he was a front seat passenger in crashed into a fallen tree in Grangemouth, Falkirk, Police Scotland said.

Commuters at London's Euston station after Storm Isha caused travel disruption

The incident happened on the A905 Beancross Road at around 11.45pm during an amber weather warning issued by the UK's Met Office which covered the whole country.

The next storm due to hit the UK and Ireland has been named by Met Éireann as Storm Jocelyn and is expected to cause strong winds from tomorrow night into Wednesday morning.

Northern Ireland Electricity Networks said 45,000 customers were without power, while Electricity North West also said thousands of properties in northwest England had lost their supply.

Fallen trees affected transport, with Traffic Scotland reporting stretches of the M9 and M74 among the roads closed, while the A1 southbound was blocked at Thorntonloch because of an overturned lorry.

A man working to remove a fallen tree that blocked a road in Co Antrim

High winds forced the closure of the Tay Road Bridge, M48 Severn Bridge and the A66 in Durham and Cumbria between the A1(M) and the M6, while the Humber Bridge, A19 Tees Flyover and A628 Woodhead Pass in Derbyshire were among stretches closed to high-sided vehicles.

Fallen trees and flooding caused ScotRail to suspend all services from 7pm yesterday until around 11am when some lines reopened.

A Network Rail spokesman "hundreds of engineers" were deployed with chainsaws and cherry pickers to remove debris from tracks.

He added: "It's been a wild night, but passengers and railway staff have been kept safe and we will work tirelessly to get the railway back on its feet as quickly as we can."

Most routes in England and Wales were open today but with some residual delays.

Traffic queues on the M6 motorway in England

Air traffic control restrictions last night led to flight cancellations and caused many planes to divert.

Ryanair flights to Dublin from Manchester and Lanzarote in the Canary Islands diverted to the French cities of Paris and Bordeaux respectively.

The Met Office said the highest recorded wind speed during Storm Isha was 159km/h at Brizlee Wood in Northumberland, with gusts of 145km/h at Capel Curig in Snowdonia yesterday.

A rare red warning for wind in north-east Scotland was in place until 5am on Monday, with amber warnings covering much of the UK until 6am and further yellow warnings covering the entire country until noon.

A further yellow warning for wind for Scotland, Northern Ireland, north Wales and northern England is active from 4pm tomorrow until noon on Wednesday.

Storm Isha is the ninth named storm to hit the UK since the season began in September

The Met Office said "everybody" was affected by the storm.

Heavy downpours battered some places, with 28 flood warnings in place in England and 50 in Scotland.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said the weather put "significant pressure" on the 999 system and urged people to report non-emergencies online or by calling 101.

Chief Superintendent Davy Beck said many roads across Northern Ireland were impassable on Monday morning.

The Met Office said Storm Isha - the ninth named storm to hit the UK since the season began in September - is moving away from the UK on Monday but conditions remained windy with a mixture of sunny spells and scattered showers.

Showers were expected to be heaviest and most frequent in the north and west.