Storm Darragh: Blackouts, travel delays and roof flying off

Thousands of people are without electricity, and scores of roads are impassably amid significant disruption caused by Storm Darragh.

The Met Office’s red warning for potentially life-threatening weather, covering the Bristol Channel coast, expired at 11:00 GMT, but a yellow warning remains in force until 06:00 on Sunday.

Fallen trees have blocked scores of routes across the south west of England, while railway and bus services have been suspended.

James Davis, from Great Western Railway (GWR), warned there will be a “knock-on effect” into Sunday.

A Somerset road was also blocked after panels from a block of flats’ roof flew off.

Firefighters and police attended the incident on Albert Street in Bridgwater, and a cordon remained in place for a number of hours.

As the strong gusts arrived at about 03:00, large waves from Bristol Channel crashed into sea walls.

This prompted North Somerset Council workers to close Weston-super-Mare’s seafront amid safety concerns.

Events were later cancelled across the area, including Bath and Bristol’s Christmas markets, during what should have been one of their busiest weekends.

Meanwhile, small businesses located near the coast have had tiles fly off their buildings and delivery issues.

Eleanor Sedgwick, a front-of-house supervisor at Scarlett’s in Clevedon, North Somerset, said the café was unable to open on Saturday morning as it was “too big of a risk”.

“The years that I’ve worked here, I’ve never had to close because of the weather, apart from when it snowed,” she said.

The 23-year-old said four tiles fell off the roof of the café, but the business “got off quite lucky” compared to previous storms.

“We’re very fortunate because we are the first sort of wall (the storm) hit, so it’s scary but I’m glad that everyone’s happy and safe,” she added.

Ben England, who manages the Tiffin café along the same seafront, said the team took precautionary measures on Friday night to secure outdoor seating.

“Some of our deliveries didn’t make it through from Bristol, but I think we should be okay,” the 47-year-old said.

He added that he told “probably 80%” of his staff to stay home for safety reasons.

Rail passengers continue to face “significant” disruption to services in and around the region.

Westbury and Chippenham stations have sustained damage to the roofs, resulting in cancellations to the majority of trains passing through.

Elsewhere, the line between Bristol Parkway and south Wales is closed. Passengers can use their tickets for Saturday and Sunday until Monday.

Those who do not travel can claim a full refund, GWR confirmed.

At Bristol Airport, many planes have been delayed or grounded.

A spokesperson said: “Storm Darragh will continue to cause severe disruption today.

“Passengers are advised to check with their airline before travelling to the airport.”

Fallen trees have also caused widespread disruption across the area.

Simon Harnaman from Redland, Bristol, was awoken just before 05:00 by his son to say his car alarm was going off.

“I rushed to the front of the house, opened the blinds and saw that there was a rather large tree resting on top of my car.

“It’s as big as our house – it must be about 60ft.

“It just came right over the top of it, so I now have a rather poorly Volvo,” he said.

Within an hour-and-a-half of reporting it, the council had deployed staff with chainsaws and shredders to remove the tree.

It has also been a long wait for people who have been left without electricity across the region due to power cuts.

People in Haselbury Plucknett near Crewkerne, Somerset, have been without power for most of the afternoon.

Resident Barbara said she has been listening to the radio on her wind-up radio since midday.

“It was supposed to be the big church clean before Christmas, but I hadn’t got the message,” she said.

“I turned up and did a couple of hours of cleaning in the church until the power went out there.

“I then came home and had power for about an hour, quickly made a hot meal, a hot drink and topped up my thermal flask,” she said.

Hilary from Street in Somerset said her home ran out of power whilst she was making her “Christmas gravy”.

“We went to the shop and got batteries and candles,” she said.

“We were going to have a roast, but instead we’re now having ham and cheese and some Bailey’s.

“If we still don’t have power we’ll just wrap presents later.

Storm Darragh is the fourth named storm of the season following Bert and Conall, which caused severe flooding.