Storm Eunice: British army on stand as Met Office issues rare red weather warning
Storm Eunice has put life on hold in parts of Britain with the army on stand and schools closed after a rare red weather warning was issued for London and eastern England. The warning is in place from 7 am to 12 pm Friday.
The Red Weather Warning for wind covers southwest coastal areas of the UK, where the most significant gusts in exposed areas could be in excess of 90mph from early Friday morning, the British Met Office said in a statement.
⚠️⚠️🔴 Rare Red Weather Warning Issued 🔴⚠️⚠️#StormEunice will bring extremely strong winds across parts of Southwest England and south Wales
Friday 0700 – 1200
Latest info 👉 https://t.co/QwDLMfRBfs
Advice 👉 https://t.co/JFRa8CtfWY
Stay #WeatherAware⚠️ pic.twitter.com/m46eseAXoV
— Met Office (@metoffice) February 17, 2022
“Further inland and within the wider Amber Warning area, gusts will still be significant and damaging for many, with 70-80mph gusts possible. With such severe weather impacting the UK, people should stay up to date with the latest warnings as they could be updated,” it added.
The Met office rarely issues red weather warnings — the previous ones were issued during Storm Arwen in November 2021 and prior to that in March 2018.
An emergency meeting was held to discuss the storm response and Prime Miner Boris Johnson said “the army is on stand” for further support as needed, according to an AFP report.
The warnings reflect the expected track of Storm Eunice eastwards across the central portion of the UK, with the strongest winds expected to the south of Eunice, the weather officials added.
“Strong winds could bring coastal flooding to parts of the west, southwest and south coast of England, as well as the tidal River Severn, in the early hours of Friday morning. This is due to Storm Eunice resulting in high waves and potential storm surge coinciding with the start of a period of spring tides,” said Katharine Smith, Environment Agency Flood Duty Manager.
“You can check your flood risk, sign up for free flood warnings and keep up to date with the latest situation at https://www.gov.uk/check-flood-risk, call Floodline on 0345 988 1188 or follow @EnvAgency on Twitter for the latest flood updates,” she added.
