THE Met Office has issued an urgent yellow warning for nearly all of Britain today – as Storm Pia sparks Christmas getaway chaos.
Strong winds will bluster across a large swathe of the country until 9pm today.
Scotland, Northern Ireland, north Wales, northern England, the Midlands and East Anglia are all covered by the wind warning.
Road, train, air and ferry journeys will all take longer, with brief power cuts also expected.
All trains to and from London Euston have been cancelled after overhead electric wires toppled onto the lines at Watford Junction.
The concourse at Euston is now packed with passengers who had hoped to get a train home for Christmas from the station.
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Snaps taken this morning show delayed passengers queuing up at Manchester Airport's Terminal 1.
Pilots battled to land a diverted plane at Birmingham Airport in 50mph crosswinds.
The Aer Lingus ATR 72-600 propeller plane was diverted from Leeds Bradford, with the pilots aborting their first attempt at a landing in Birmingham.
During the second attempt at landing, the cabin rocked violently as it was buffeted by winds.
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A Finnair flight from Helsinki to Manchester also aborted its landing moments before its wheels touched the tarmac.
TransPennine Express has issued a "Do Not Travel" warning until 3pm for customers planning to head to and from Edinburgh.
ScotRail has also cancelled trains along seven routes including Inverness to Aberdeen.
People in coastal parts should look out for spray and large waves on the sea front.
The sprawling wind system has been named Storm Pia by the Danish Met Office.
Forecasters said that there could be winds of up to 70mph in the north of the warning area.
The gusts might briefly reach 80mph across the far north of Scotland and the Northern Isles this morning.
All schools in the Shetland Islands have been shut as locals bunker down against the storm.
The wind blew smashed glass into the entrance of an M&S in Bolton, Greater Manchester.
Christmas markets in Liverpool and Hereford have shut following the yellow warning.
Met Office expert Paul Gundersen said: "Strong winds are likely to develop across a large area of the UK.
"We’ve issued a large yellow warning area where there’s a potential for some impacts.
"But gusts of 50-60mph are possible for large parts of central and northern areas of the UK.
"Exposed coasts and high ground could see gusts of 70-80mph at times, mainly across the far north of Scotland.
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"There’s a chance this low pressure will continue to exert its influence into Friday."
The travel warnings come as the biggest traffic hotspots and worst times to travel home for Christmas have been revealed – with Brits set to make 21million trips this week.
Is your area affected?
- Angus
- Clackmannanshire
- Dundee
- Falkirk
- Fife
- Perth and Kinross
- Stirling
- Derby
- Derbyshire
- Leicester
- Leicestershire
- Lincolnshire
- Northamptonshire
- Nottingham
- Nottinghamshire
- Rutland
- Cambridgeshire
- Norfolk
- Peterborough
- Suffolk
- Aberdeen
- Aberdeenshire
- Moray
- Eilean Siar
- Highland
- Darlington
- Durham
- Gateshead
- Hartlepool
- Middlesbrough
- Newcastle upon Tyne
- North Tyneside
- Northumberland
- Redcar and Cleveland
- South Tyneside
- Stockton-on-Tees
- Sunderland
- Blackburn with Darwen
- Blackpool
- Cheshire East
- Cheshire West and Chester
- Cumbria
- Greater Manchester
- Halton
- Lancashire
- Merseyside
- Warrington
- County Antrim
- County Armagh
- County Down
- County Fermanagh
- County Londonderry
- County Tyrone
- Orkney Islands
- Shetland Islands
- Dumfries and Galloway
- East Lothian
- Edinburgh
- Midlothian Council
- Scottish Borders
- West Lothian
- Argyll and Bute
- East Ayrshire
- East Dunbartonshire
- East Renfrewshire
- Glasgow
- Inverclyde
- North Ayrshire
- North Lanarkshire
- Renfrewshire
- South Ayrshire
- South Lanarkshire
- West Dunbartonshire
- Conwy
- Denbighshire
- Flintshire
- Gwynedd
- Isle of Anglesey
- Powys
- Wrexham
- Shropshire
- Staffordshire
- Stoke-on-Trent
- Telford and Wrekin
- Warwickshire
- West Midlands Conurbation
- East Riding of Yorkshire
- Kingston upon Hull
- North East Lincolnshire
- North Lincolnshire
- North Yorkshire
- South Yorkshire
- West Yorkshire
- York
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