Post-Christmas travel misery as roads and railways look to recover from Storm Gerrit

Travellers on their way home from the Christmas break are set to endure more disruption today as roads and train lines battered by Storm Gerrit look to recover from the worst of the weather.

Heavy rain and winds of up to 80mph brought misery to parts of the UK’s transport network on Wednesday.

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Yellow weather warnings for strong wind remained in place in parts of Wales and the North West, with Greater Manchester Police responding to several weather incidents in Stalybridge overnight after reports of a small tornado.

The Environment Agency still has 19 flood alerts, meaning flooding is expected, active across England, while the Met Office has a yellow warning for snow in place in the Shetlands.

Scotland was the most badly impacted by the weather on Wednesday, with police forced to close numerous roads, including one flooded by a deluge in Whitesands, Dumfries.

Motorists on the A9 were delayed for hours due to wind and snow, with one driver, Shenna Moffat, telling Sky News it took her 14 hours to get home after a “scary” journey from Skye.

A major incident was declared before snowploughs were able to start clearing a way through in the Highlands, while further south at Ballinluig the road was closed due to flooding.

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Trees felled and homes without power

On the railway, train operators LNER and Avanti West Coast were among those advising customers not to travel – the latter said its West Coast Main Line route to Scotland was impassable.

Network Rail Scotland also imposed speed restrictions because of the weather, which flooded some lines and saw another near Dumbarton East Station closed by a fallen tree.

People left stranded were told to book hotels and claim back the costs, with some pre-booked tickets transferable to services aiming to run on Thursday and Friday.

Even those who did stay home haven’t been spared from the storm, with 27,000 properties across Scotland suffering power cuts and more than half still experiencing outages late on Wednesday.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has warned some could be affected until Friday.

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Planes struggle in strong winds

In other parts of the UK, flights and trains are among the services hoping to bounce back from a day of disruption.

Eighteen British Airways flights were cancelled due to air traffic control restrictions, including domestic trips to Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Jersey and Manchester, and overseas to Barcelona, Berlin, Madrid, and Paris.

Dramatic footage showed planes struggling to land at Bristol and Heathrow airports, while some passengers catching flights from Luton were left sweating due to problems on the railway.

Signalling failures meant East Midlands Railway was unable to run services between London St Pancras and Wellingborough on Wednesday, while a Thameslink service calling at the airport was delayed by nearly two hours.

Travellers heading to airports on Thursday have been urged to check before they travel.

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Highs recorded for wind and rain

The same advice has been issued to ferry passengers after winds scuppered services between Southampton and Cowes.

Gusts also affected motorists, with the M48 Severn Bridge in Gloucestershire closed in both directions.

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According to the Met Office, the strongest winds nationwide so far were 86mph at Inverbervie on Scotland’s northeast coast.

Great Langdale Valley in the Lake District has seen the highest accumulation of rain, totalling 80mm. That was nearly half the usual 178mm monthly rainfall for December.

Storm Gerrit hit the UK less than a week after Storm Pia caused significant disruption ahead of Christmas.

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