This week, both Scotland and the North of England were met by winds going up to 90pmh, leaving the countries without power and facing heavy disruption to the likes of commuter journeys.
Storms Malik and Corrie left up to 16,000 people without supplies, energy companies said. By this time, there were at least two confirmed fatalities; one in Glasgow and another in Hampshire.
With the storm ravaging both countries leaving commuters delayed and others stranded, it leaves a question of how exactly did so many people face such disruptions from only from two storm fronts?
In Scotland particularly, many roads have been shut down due to trees being brought down. Both drivers and councils alike warned that safety must be prioritised over speed when commuting home with the fallen wildlife.
James Cook University’s Dr Craig Stewart said: “Storm damage is going to take a while to clear up. There will be a lot of trees on paths, roads and railway lines. Even where the storm has gone through quite quickly there will be a lot of debris left behind.”
In addition to this, train services have also been delayed by up to an hour in some instances due to lightning bringing down power lines on rare occurrences.
To make matters worse, it is predicted that the two storms are only the tip of the iceberg with Dr Stewart adding: “We can expect more storms like these right throughout autumn.”
It has already been reported that six householders had their roofs blown off in Glasgow by Malik while one was struck by lightning in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland; however no injuries were recorded this time.
Rail services and schools have also been affected by the storms after they too were left with power cuts; Due to a lack of power and heating, they are expected to remain closed on Monday and until an appropriate alternative is found. In a further blow to many, thousands have been warned that their mobile phone may not work in the midst of these storms, with some even being advised to seek shelter in a building rather than go outside.
With these storms expected to continue well into next week, many students are concerned that they will have to repeat their year due to lack of school. With universities remaining closed throughout this time, English language classes for migrant workers were also cancelled today at a college in Glasgow due to a power cut. Many homes and businesses remain without power as of now, with those affected being advised to not contact their electricity provider for updates as this would only prolong the amount time they will be without power.
National reports indicate that tens of thousands of families have been displaced by these storms and that damage estimates are at least £1 billion. Police have urged the public to stay off of the roads for their own safety, with conditions being treacherous.
Paul Glendinning, a director at Northern Powergrid, said: “We are within sight of the end. But we still have a lot to do to get the last 4,000 customers reconnected having confirmed that around 200 damage points remain. Restoring these smaller incidents reconnects only a small number of customers for each job.”
According to SP Energy Networks, all but 230 of the 22,450 people in Scotland and the North-West of England that had been disconnected, are not comfortable households once again, after Sunday’s latest update reported positive changes.
The Met Office has issued a yellow warning for heavy rain and strong winds. The chief forecaster said: “Further disruption is likely as a spell of persistent, occasionally heavy, rain spread from the west during Monday, accompanied by strong winds. As ground remains saturated there is an increased risk of further flooding impacts”.
The Danes named this storm “Storm Malik” while the British delegation gave it a more exotic sounding name. They both follow international naming conventions for storms in order to maintain consistency and longevity of official terminology across different regions, but there are some differences between them as well- Storm X can be replaces with any letter except Q or U since they’re already used by other equally strong hurricanes; Y isn’t included because its borders haven’t been defined yet. Malik was chosen as the name of this storm because of it’s Arabic meaning, which refers to a noble or high ranking individual.
Going forward, it has been advised by the Environmental Health Agency that storm Corrie is likely to cause high tides that have the potential to lead into flooding around Felixstowe in Suffolk and near Tilbury in Essex. Meanwhile Network Rail, in an effort to reopen the line for service this week has carried out safety checks. They reported that these include monitoring overhead electric wires and running trains on tracks among other things that are needed before they can make the line safe and accessible for passengers again.
Train services between Edinburgh and Newcastle have been severely disrupted by the recent bad weather, leading to further delays on passenger train journeys in Scotland. The ScotRail operator warned passengers Monday that they could only offer “limited replacement transport” at this time for much of its network, which remains impacted from severe conditions such as those seen earlier in December 2016 when millions were left without power after Storm Eva.