UK Met Office calls Storm Eowyn the 'strongest' in a decade

Storm Eowyn has been described as "probably the strongest storm" to hit the UK in over a decade, according to the Met Office, after it caused widespread damage and left hundreds of thousands without power.

At the storm's height, nearly a million properties were without power across the British Isles and many road and rail links were blocked. A man was killed by a tree fall in Ireland as winds reached a record 114mph (183 km/h), News.Az reports, citing BBC.

Parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland suffered widespread property damage and Network Rail Scotland logged nearly 400 damage incidents.

While the worst has passed, strong winds are expected to continue, and parts of England and Wales could receive up to 80mm of rainfall over the weekend.

Met Office forecasters described Eowyn as "pretty exceptional" and the most intense storm for some areas of the UK for "20-30 years".

The dead man was on Saturday identified as Kacper Dudek, 20, who was killed when a tree fell on his car at in Co Donegal, which experienced the worst gusts.

A yellow warning for strong winds is in place for much of Scotland until 3pm on Saturday, where gusts could reach 50-60mph inland, 60-70mph on exposed coasts and hills and possibly 70-80mph in the Northern Isles.

A yellow ice warning covers the East, South East and South West of England, East and West Midlands, and parts of Wales until 10am.

In Ireland, 625,000 homes and businesses were without power on Friday evening. While tens of thousands had been reconnected by Saturday morning, engineers said it could take a "significant number of days" for the grid to be fully repaired.

Around 138,000 people were without water, a figure Irish Water said was likely to increase because of power outages at treatment plants and pumping stations.

In Scotland, power had been restored to 134,000 properties by Saturday morning. Around 30,000 remained without supply.

In Northern Ireland, 189,000 homes and businesses remained without power on Saturday morning, although supply had been restored for 96,000 customers.

Northern Ireland Electricity said it could be up to 10 days before all were back on the grid.

The infrastructure department said there were more than incidents of 1,800 fallen trees, branches, and other debris blocking roads.

News.Az