68 UK areas hit with 18-hour power cuts risk as Met Office issues amber warning

As many as 68 areas of the UK could be hit with power cuts, travel disruption due to heavy wind storms on Monday, the Met Office has warned. The forecaster has issued an amber weather warning covering a 12-hour period in the UK starting at 10am on Monday, August 4, and a separate yellow weather warning covering an even greater area for a longer time, starting at 6am.

The Met Office said that both the amber warning, which covers 28 areas of the UK, all in Scotland, and the yellow weather warning, covering 68 areas of the UK including England and Wales, risk causing power cuts, as well as a "danger to life", travel disruption, damage to property and the loss of mobile phone signal. Cities under the yellow weather warning include Manchester, Leeds, Bradford, York, Liverpool, Newcastle, Sunderland and Glasgow as well as Bangor in Wales, while Glasgow and Edinburgh are impacted by a more serious amber weather warning.

The Met Office said in its yellow warning: "Storm Floris will bring a spell of unusually windy weather for the time of year across the northern half of the UK on Monday. The highest winds are expected across Scotland between late morning and early evening. In some areas high winds will be accompanied by heavy rain. Wind will then slowly start to ease from the west later.

"Across the warning area, many inland areas are likely to see gusts of 40 to 50 mph with 60 to 70 mph possible along exposed coasts and high ground, especially Scotland. During the height of the storm, winds over parts of Scotland will be even higher and this is covered by a separate amber warning."

In its amber warning for Scotland, it added: "Storm Floris will bring unseasonably strong and disruptive winds to much of Scotland during Monday.

"Gusts of 50 to 70 mph are expected for many parts, and are likely to reach 80 to 90 mph on some exposed coasts, hills and bridges."

It said to expect: "Some damage to buildings, such as tiles blown from roofs, could happen; Injuries and danger to life from flying debris are possible; Power cuts may occur, with the potential to affect other services, such as mobile phone coverage; Injuries and danger to life could occur from large waves and beach material being thrown onto sea fronts, coastal roads and properties; Some roads and bridges may close; Road, rail, air and ferry services may be affected, with longer journey times and cancellations possible."

The full list of 68 affected UK areas is:

Angus

Clackmannanshire

Dundee

Falkirk

Fife

Perth and Kinross

Stirling

Aberdeen

Aberdeenshire

Moray

Na h-Eileanan Siar

Highland

Darlington

Durham

Gateshead

Hartlepool

Middlesbrough

Newcastle upon Tyne

North Tyneside

Northumberland

Redcar and Cleveland

South Tyneside

Stockton-on-Tees

Sunderland

Blackburn with Darwen

Blackpool

Cheshire West and Chester

Cumbria

Greater Manchester

Halton

Lancashire

Merseyside

Warrington

County Antrim

County Armagh

County Down

County Fermanagh

County Londonderry

County Tyrone

Orkney Islands

Shetland Islands

Dumfries and Galloway

East Lothian

Edinburgh

Midlothian Council

Scottish Borders

West Lothian

Argyll and Bute

East Ayrshire

East Dunbartonshire

East Renfrewshire

Glasgow

Inverclyde

North Ayrshire

North Lanarkshire

Renfrewshire

South Ayrshire

South Lanarkshire

West Dunbartonshire

Conwy

Denbighshire

Flintshire

Gwynedd

Isle of Anglesey

East Riding of Yorkshire

North Yorkshire

West Yorkshire

York