British weather authorities warned people about Storm Eunice, also known as Storm Zeynep in Germany, suggesting them to stay indoors. The storm is anticipated to cause significant disruption and perilous circumstances with gusts of up to 90 miles per hour in coastal areas.
After a rare red weather warning was issued for London and eastern England, life was put on stop in parts of Britain, with the army on alert and schools closed. The advisory was in effect from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Friday. The British Met Office said in a statement that the Red Weather Warning for wind includes southwest coastal portions of the UK, where the most significant gusts in exposed areas could be in excess of 90mph starting early Friday morning. Eunice is Europe’s second named storm in two days, with the first killing at least five people in Germany and Poland.
Eunice was already impacting travel across southern England and Wales as Britain waited for the worst of the storm Eunice, with several train services disrupted and numerous flights cancelled.
Major tourist attractions in England, including the London Eye, Legoland, and Warwick Castle, as well as the Royal Parks, were closed ahead of the storm. During the storm, sections of the 02 Arena roof were ripped off.
London’s mayor Sadiq Khan also advised people to stay at home, to not take any risks and to not travel unless essential citing the conditions created by Eunice.
A meeting of the UK government’s COBRA emergency committee will be held to examine the storm. Home Office Minister Damian Hinds told Sky News that the Army is on “high readiness stand-by” to respond if needed. Another indicator of life-threatening weather conditions is the Environment Agency’s issuance of ten extreme flood warnings.
Extremely strong winds may cause structural damage and flying debris in the red alert zones, posing a serious threat to human life.
On Friday afternoon, the storm is expected to hit northern Germany, then move eastward overnight. On Friday, a flood warning was issued for Germany’s North Sea coast. Meteorologists warned that Friday’s storm might do greater damage than the previous weather system, which caused at least three deaths, toppled trees, destroyed roofs and railroad tracks, among other things. Germany’s largest railway operator, Deutsche Bahn, is cancelling all train routes in north of the country to ensure safety of its passengers on Friday.
As the storm approached low-lying Netherlands, the Dutch meteorology institute issued its strongest warning, code red, for coastal areas and code orange for much of the rest of the country.
Storm Eunice has sparked fears because it has the ability to produce a “sting jet,” a localised area of high winds that might reach 100 mph. According to the Met Office, one example of such a phenomenon happened during the Great Storm of 1987, which killed 18 people and knocked down 15 million trees across the UK.
Weather has slowed the rate at which planes are allowed to land at London’s Heathrow Airport, according to British Airways. High-sided cars and other “vulnerable” vehicles, such as caravans and motorcycles, should avoid bridges and viaducts, according to the federal transportation department.
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