Storm Eunice batters UK with high winds

Three people were killed by felled trees in Amsterdam on Friday, according to tweets from the Amsterdam-Amstelland Fire Brigade (Brandweer AA).?

The fire brigade said it received a report at 3 p.m. local time of someone “who had ended up under a fallen tree” on Aalsmeerweg street in the Amsterdam-Zuid district.?

“The fire brigade freed this person, who was immediately transported to the hospital. They have unfortunately passed away,” according to a tweet.

Brandweer AA later said a tree had fallen on a car on Weesperstraat, in the Diemen municipality, adding that “a person who was in the car died as a result.”?

The fire brigade also reported that a tree fell on and killed a cyclist on Vrijheidslaan, located in the Amsterdam-Zuid district.?

Most of the Netherlands was under the highest weather alert on Friday, with people advised to stay home ahead of Storm Eunice. The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute warned of “significant damage and very dangerous situations” expected from falling trees and flying objects.?

Two people in England have been killed by Storm Eunice, which hit the United Kingdom with record-breaking wind gusts.?

A woman was killed in Muswell Hill in north London on Friday after a tree fell on her car, according to a statement from the London Fire Brigade.?

“Firefighters rescued two people from a car after a tree fell on it during the storm,” according to a statement. One man sustained injuries and was subsequently taken to the hospital after being treated at the scene, according to the statement.

A man in his 50s was also killed on Friday while driving his car in the Switch Island/ Dunningsbridge Road area of Liverpool in northwest England, according to a press release from Merseyside Police.?

Paramedics attended the scene, but the man was “sadly pronounced dead.”

Merseyside Police Sgt. Amy Murray called it a “very tragic incident” and appealed to any members of the public that were in the area around 2 p.m. local time with any footage to come forward.?

The London Fire Brigade declared a major incident earlier Friday due to a high volume of emergency calls about incidents related to the storm.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan paid tribute to the woman who died in a tweet on Friday, saying his “thoughts and prayers are with the families of the woman who tragically lost her life.”

He also sent a message of support to the “man who was seriously injured” in Highgate in north London on Friday.?

In Ireland, a man was killed by a fallen tree due to the storm.

The United Kingdom’s Meteorological Office said Storm Eunice is heading off the UK coast, but warned that “strong gusts and dangerous conditions” will continue over the next few hours.

Wind warnings are still in effect this evening, the weather service tweeted. The Met Office issued a rare “danger-to-life” red weather alert today.

Record-breaking hurricane-force winds today toppled trees, ripped off the roof of London’s O2 arena, and caused disruptions in air and train service. A man died in Ireland after a tree fell due to the storm.

As UK officials urged people to stay indoors due to dangerous weather warnings from Storm Eunice, many are turning to their phones in hopes of food delivery. But companies like Uber Eats and Deliveroo have halted services in parts of the country for safety measures.

“In the interest of keeping riders safe, our service is not available at the moment due to a red weather warning. We’ll be available again as soon as it is safe to do so,” a message read for customers logging in to the Deliveroo app.

Meanwhile, a message from Uber Eats also read, “For courier safety, our delivery service is currently unavailable due to a weather alert.”?

Experts agree — it’s not safe to be out and about.

“The Met Office red and amber warnings for high winds on Friday should not be taken lightly,” Hannah Cloke, professor of hydrology at the University of Reading, said in a news statement. “Red means you need to act now because there is an imminent danger to life.?Everyone who lives or works in those areas should be battening down the hatches, literally in some cases, to prevent people from being killed and injured and to protect your homes and businesses.”

Conditions are life-threatening, experts are saying.

London, parts of Wales, and the southeast of England are bracing for Eunice’s wind gusts of up to 100 mph. Videos posted on social media show people holding on to poles and getting blown and knocked over by strong winds.?

Damage to the roof of the O2 Arena in London, caused by Storm Eunice, on February 18.

Footage shared on social media showed the roof of London’s O2 arena severely damaged by strong winds. Large sections of the fabric roof were shredded and ripped off by the gusts, while the building was evacuated and closed.

On its website, the 02 said a planned event scheduled to take place at the venue Friday night would be rescheduled.

“The safety of our visitors remains of paramount importance, and we will continue to assess the ongoing situation and act accordingly,” according to the statement.

The London Fire Brigade has declared a major incident due to a high volume of emergency calls about incidents related to a powerful storm blasting the UK.

In a statement, the brigade said it?has been having “an exceptionally busy day” due to chaos caused by Storm?Eunice?which hit the country Friday?with?hurricane force winds.

The brigade says it has responded to multiple urgent incidents?in and around London,?including overturned?vehicles,?scaffolding “in a precarious position,”?a balcony collapse and?parts of the roof of a large stadium, the O2 Arena, blown off.

A man in his late 60s was killed Friday by a fallen tree in Ireland as storm?Eunice?batters the United Kingdom with record-breaking gusts of wind.

The man was later pronounced deceased at the scene, a Gardaí police spokesperson told CNN.

“The body of the man will be removed to Waterford University Hospital where a post-mortem will take place in due course,” the police statement added.

After dozens of flights were canceled across London’s major airports, more than 200,000 people tuned in to watch a livestream on YouTube of planes landing at London’s Heathrow Airport.

The aircraft were seen battling strong gusts as they came into land, some of them wobbling mid-air, others skidding from side to side once they hit the runway.

The video, on the Big Jet TV channel, was accompanied by comical commentary by presenter Jerry Dyer, who kept viewers entertained by offering words of encouragement to the pilots, at one point saying: “Come on mate, you can do it!”

Avgeek Dyer’s?Big Jet TV YouTube?channel was trending on social media, reaching number two on Twitter in the UK, with one of his trademark phrases as planes hit the ground, “bosh,” at number three.

As Dyer tracked a Qatar Airways A380 making two?balked landings?and coming in for a third and final time — which was successful — more than 230,000 people were watching his livestream from a field outside the airport.

Separately, over 53,000 people were tracking the plane’s route on?Flight Radar 24?as it circled the UK capital while attempting to land.

Dyer’s website even crashed as thousands tried to follow him.

Dyer, who lives near Heathrow, does a livestream from Heathrow every Wednesday, but rushes to the airport to film every time there’s bad weather, he?told CNN earlier this month, when his video of a British Airways plane seemingly striking the ground with its tail as it performed a balked landing went viral.

But his livestream of Storm Eunice has made it far beyond his usual avgeek crowd.

Chelsea Football Club tweeted?about his feed, as did?Netflix, while UK TV channel Dave jokingly?offered him a prime time show.

Meanwhile, social media was full of Dyer’s catchphrases: “fair play,” “easy, son,” and “go on then,” with his cheeky persona endearing him to thousands.

Read more here.

The Needles on the Isle of Wight recorded a wind gust of 122 mph on Friday, provisionally the highest gust ever recorded in England, according to the UK’s weather service, the Met Office.

The United Kingdom’s weather service, the Met Office, tweeted a video of Storm Eunice’s track across the UK so far.

A pedestrian walks past a fallen tree in Amsterdam on February 18, as Storm Eunice passes across northern Europe.

Most of the Netherlands is under the highest weather alert and residents are advised to stay home ahead of Storm?Eunice,?which is currently hitting the United Kingdom.

The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute is expecting “very strong wind gusts of 100-120 km/h this afternoon and evening, on the coast up to 130 km/h.” That’s about 60-80 mph.

It warns “significant damage and very dangerous situations” are expected from falling trees and flying objects.

Storm?Eunice?is expected to hit the country later on Friday.?

People get off the last train arriving at Oostende station in Belgium, on Friday, February 18.

Belgium on Friday issued wind alerts for some western and coastal areas of the country due to Storm?Eunice, according to the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium’s website.

The institute issued an orange wind alert for the provinces of Hainaut, West Flanders, East Flanders and Antwerp, and a?yellow wind alert for the rest of the country.

Gusts could reach 140 km/h (86 mph) on the coast of Belgium, according to the institute.

The Belgian rail operator NMBS/SNCB announced Friday that it was suspending all trains in East Flanders and most trains in West Flanders between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. local (8 a.m. ET to 12 p.m. ET) due to the storm.

There will be no train services on Friday?between Belgium and the Netherlands, and speed restrictions are in place for trains between Belgium and France, according to a?NMBS/SNCB statement.?

In Brussels, parks and cemeteries will be closed starting Friday at 10 a.m. local (4 a.m. ET) until Monday morning, according to the local government. They will be reopened on Monday if weather conditions allow.?

About 123,558 properties across southwest England and Wales were without power due to Storm?Eunice, UK’s Western Power Distribution company, which supplies power to the regions, said on its website Friday afternoon.

“We’re seeing an increasing number of incidents in the South West and South Wales …?It remains business as usual in the Midlands for the moment,” Western Power Distribution said in a statement earlier on Friday.

“The main issues our field teams are facing are falling trees and flying debris, which are bringing down overhead lines. Fallen trees also create difficulties in getting to faults,” it added.

Storm?Eunice?has limited operations at?Amsterdam Airport Schiphol on Friday, with 177 KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flights canceled and more cancellations expected, according to a KLM news release.

France issued an orange wind alert for five departments along its northern coast due to Storm Eunice, according to Météo France, the country’s national weather service.?

The departments of Pas de Calais, Seine-Maritime, Manche, Somme and Nord have been placed on orange alert for strong winds and possible coastal flooding. Gusts could reach 140 km/h (86 mph) on the coast, Météo France said.?

A yellow alert is issued for a large part of the rest of the country, including the capital Paris and its surrounding areas.?

Authorities urged residents in orange alert areas to stay inside and limit their travels. French national railway SNCF has announced the cancellation of most regional trains in the northern Hauts-de-France region starting at noon, while delays are expected for high-speed railways.

Meteorologists in the United Kingdom have issued a rare “danger-to-life” alert as?Storm Eunice is forecast to batter parts of the country Friday, potentially creating a “sting jet” that could bring havoc to streets.

On Thursday, the UK’s weather service, the Met Office, issued the rare red alert — the highest weather warning category in the UK — warning that Eunice is forecast to bring “significant and damaging” gusts of up to 90 mph and threaten life.

It could also bring high waves and coastal flooding in the west, southwest and south coast of England, the Met Office said.

The warnings come as thousands of people went without power in the UK’s north after Storm Dudley brought down trees and cut households from the grid Wednesday.

The Met Office is urging people to only travel if necessary and warned drivers that road closures could be in place on Friday. People across the UK should also secure outdoor furniture and bins and should avoid parking near trees, it said.

Hannah Cloke, a professor of hydrology at the University of Reading, warned people not to take the red alert lightly.

Read more here.

As?Storm Eunice?made landfall in the United Kingdom, dozens of flights were canceled at major airports Friday, including London Heathrow and London City Airport.

British Airways said it was grounding a number of planes and expected “significant disruption,” but that most flights would go ahead as planned.

The airline said it was looking at deploying larger aircraft where possible to better withstand the weather.

Rail companies have urged customers to reconsider their plans, with blanket speed restrictions in place for most lines across the country.

In a statement Friday, Network Rail warned of high winds blowing trees and other debris onto railway lines, which then block trains and cause delays and cancelations.

Millions of people in the United Kingdom have been told to stay home for their own safety as?Storm Eunice?made landfall in the country, bringing hurricane-force winds that ripped off a rooftop and crushed a vehicle in a London suburb.

The UK Met Office issued a rare “danger-to-life” red weather alert Thursday. By Friday morning, it reported winds above 90 miles per hour, in what is forecast to be the country’s worst storm in three decades.

A CNN reporter witnessed a rooftop flying off a home in the southwestern London area of Surbiton. The roof crushed a car parked on the street. Video footage showed a train electricity line hit by debris.

Social media video showed a lifeboat building with part of its rooftop blown off at Sennen beach in Cornwall, where strong winds were pushing waves above a seawall.

Authorities are expecting gusts that cause travel delays, power cuts and possible mobile phone coverage outages.

The UK’s Met Office issued its rare red weather alert for the southwest on Thursday, and expanded that early Friday to the southeast, which includes London. CNN observed heavy winds on the southern English coast as well.

A red warning means there is a potential threat to life from flying debris.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s cabinet will hold an emergency meeting later Friday to discuss a response to the Storm Eunice, a government spokesperson said in a statement to CNN.