Havoc from Storm Benjamin has been unleashed today, with fierce winds and heavy rain already causing misery for commuters.
With four weather warnings in place today, wet and windy conditions have prompted widespread travel disruption, flooding, power cuts and building damage.
Heavy gusts tore down a tree onto the railway tracks that serve Watford Junction andLondonEuston.
Severe delays are happening on the Northern line, while the Lioness and Weaver lines are partially suspended – just in time for rush hour.
A meteorologist toldMetrothat while warnings issued by theMet Officeare yellow, amber warnings should be in place instead.
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Map shows where weather warnings in place for the UK today
Four yellow weather alerts are in place today, which the Met Office issues when the weather is expected to cause some disruption.
Weather officials have said that there is ‘a small chance of injuries and danger to life being caused by large waves’.
A yellow rain warning covering most of southern England, the East Midlands, parts of Wales and Yorkshire came into force at midnight and will expire at 6pm tonight. As much as 90mm of rain will soak some rural areas.
A second rain alert stretching across East Anglia andLincolnshireexpires at 9pm.
Large parts of southeast England are also under a wind weather warning until midnight. Another yellow alert for wind covers south west England and parts of Wales, includingSomerset,Devon,Cornwall, Swansea and Pembrokeshire.
Jim N R Dale, a senior meteorologist at theBritish Weather Services, toldMetro: ‘Storm Benjamin hit northernFranceand a large part of England and Wales overnight and into today.
’50mph and a peak of 70mph wind gusts are expected, with the eastern counties of England most at risk.
‘Large volume of flooding rain – between 25 to 65mm – with the West Midlands up through into North West England likely seeing the peak.
‘Structural damage and flooding are inevitable. There should be amber warnings, not yellow; Met Office very slow on this.’
What is the weather forecast for the weekend?
Luckily, the worst of the weather will pass by Friday with clearer skies expected and cooler temperatures seen across the UK.
The temperatures will likely feel even cooler than normal thanks to the rain.
Who named Storm Benjamin?
Normally, storms which hit the UK are named by the Met Office but that isn’t the case this time.
France’s meteorological institution,Météo France, named the gale Storm Benjamin this morning.
That’s because most of the storm will bring 80mph gusts in coastal areas of France, hitting it much worse than in the UK.
Why is it called Storm Benjamin?
The UK’s national weather service, theMet Office, publishes a list every year of storm names.
Naming a storm – typically those severe enough to pose some risk to daily life – helps weather and health officials keep public messaging consistent.
But this doesn’t mean the Met Office gets to name every single storm. Europe is split into three naming groups, and whichever region a storm forms in, the local weather agencies get to name it.
So, as Storm Benjamin formed closer to France than the UK, France’s Nétéo France weather service gave the storm a name, explains Dale.
‘So, it’s not storm Bram,’ he added, given that Met is grouped with its Irish counterpart Met Éirean and the Dutch weather service KMNI.
Full list of Met Office storm names:
- Amy
- Bram
- Chandra
- Dave
- Eddie
- Fionnuala
- Gerard
- Hannah
- Isla
- Janna
- Kasia
- Lilith
- Marty
- Nico
- Oscar
- Patrick
- Ruby
- Stevie
- Tadhg
- Violet
- Wubbo
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us atwebnews@metro.co.uk.
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