Due to the storm, the Met Office issued Amber warnings for wind for parts of southwest England on Thursday morning and the far south and southeast of England Thursday daytime and early evening.
In the affected areas, most of which are around the UK’s coastline, and can be found here, the Met Office is warning of the following:
- Flying debris that could result in a danger to life
- Damage to buildings and homes, with roofs blown off and trees and power lines brought down
- Roads, bridges and railway lines may close, with delays and cancellations to bus, train, ferry services and flights
- Power cuts could occur and affect other services, such as mobile phone coverage
- There is potential for large waves and beach material being thrown onto sea fronts, coastal roads and properties
Commenting on the situation, Met Office Deputy Chief Meteorologist, Brent Walker, said:
“Very strong winds are expected along southern coastal areas of England in particular, where gusts of 70 to 80mph are possible, perhaps exceeding 85 mph in a few exposed locations. Further inland, gusts could reach up to 50 or 60mph.
Walker added:
“As well as strong winds, there will be heavy rain across many parts of the UK. Much of southern and western England, Wales, northeast England and eastern Scotland look to see the wettest conditions between Wednesday evening and Friday morning. 20-30 mm of rain is likely to fall quite widely, with 40-60 mm possible over higher ground. Some parts of Wales and southwest England may see 80 mm of rain. This rain will fall on already saturated ground, bringing the risk of flooding.”
As one would expect, numerous sailings across the English Channel have been cancelled due to the strong winds.
According to P&O, the Port of Dover has been closed and the ferry operator’s sailings have all been suspended until further notice.
#PODOVER – Please be advised that the Port of Dover has been closed due to Storm Ciaran. We will continue to update our feeds as soon as we have further information
— P&O Ferries Updates (@POferriesupdate) November 2, 2023
DFDS has also made a similar announcement.
DOVER-FRANCE-DOVER | We regret to inform you that all departures are cancelled due to the extreme weather conditions. Apologies for the inconvenience caused. The safety of our passengers remains the utmost priority. An update will be published when it is deemed safe to sail. pic.twitter.com/TGvtsMErdi
— DFDS UK & IRE Updates (@DFDSUKUpdates) November 2, 2023
Irish Ferries too has had its sailings delayed or cancelled – you can follow their latest travel information here. Brittany Ferries equivalent page can be found here. A Brittany Ferries spokesperson told the French media yesterday that the company expected “severe disruption” to its services to and from ports in Normandy.
The Channel Tunnel, however, is still operating.
Another factor to take into account is that for safety reasons, the French region of Brittany has implemented a HGV ban that will last until the end of today at the very least.
“On the road front, we have taken measures via the prefectures to ban the circulation of heavy goods vehicles. Many were already banned since it is a public holiday on November 1st, this will be continued throughout the day tomorrow (Thursday), particularly throughout the Brittany region,” said the French Minister Delegate for Transport, Clément Beaune.
In addition to this, the prefect of Pays de La Loire has issued an order to impose a reduction in the speed of heavy goods vehicles, as a safety measure, due to forecasts of violent winds. “Heavy goods vehicles, coaches and in particular camper vans are required to reduce their speed by 20 km/h and are not authorized to carry out overtaking maneuvers,” aid the local authority in a press release.
Update 13.41 CET:
As a result of the weather advisory related to Storm Ciaran, both the Port of Felixstowe and London Gateway will be temporarily closed.
The Port of Felixstowe will cease operations starting at 23:59 tonight (01/11/2023) and will remain closed until 00:01 on Friday, 03/11/2023.
Similarly, London Gateway will shut down operations at 23:59 tonight (01/11/2023), with the closure lasting until 08:00 on 02/11/2023. Please note that operations will resume intermittently between 08:00 and 22:00, subject to continuous weather monitoring throughout the day.
Photo: Olivier Mabelly / Flickr / CC BY-NC 2.0 DEED (illustrative image)
