(DailyMail)Britain was braced for travel chaos today as Storm Agnes swept in with gales and torrential rain that could bring widespread disruption and pose a danger to life.
The Met Office has issued a string of weather warnings from 12pm as the first named storm of the season makes landfall with 80mph winds and 2.4in (60mm) of rain.
Agnes barrelled across the west coast of Ireland this morning – with 11 flights axed today between London, Manchester or the Isle of Man and Belfast, Dublin or Cork.
Among the flights cancelled according to the FlightRadar24 tracking website were British Airways services between Heathrow and Dublin, easyJet planes between Gatwick and Belfast and Aer Lingus routes between Dublin and Manchester.
Ryanair has warned of ‘significant delays’ to and from Ireland due to Agnes, which comes on top of Gatwick cancellations due to air traffic control staff sickness.
P&O Ferries said all sailings between Liverpool and Dublin had been cancelled, as well as some departures from Larne in Northern Ireland and Cairnryan in Scotland.
Ferries between the Isle of Man and Lancashire were also axed, while Devon boat trips in Torquay, Brixham and Dartmouth were called off. Avanti West Coast and ScotRail were among the train operators warning of possible disruption today.
A string of Met Office alerts will activate today, with a yellow wind warning from midday today until 7am tomorrow across Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, as well as the South-West of England, the West Midlands and most of northern England.
Forecasters warned the storm could cause power cuts, transport delays and damage to buildings.
Only southern England is set to be spared from Agnes, and it is likely to stay dry in the South-East with temperatures of up to 23C (73F) today.
There are also two yellow rain warnings covering areas of southern and central Scotland from 3pm today until midnight.
A Ryanair spokesman said in a message to passengers on its website: ‘Significant delays to/from Ireland on Wed 27 and Thurs 28 Sept due to Storm Agnes.
‘Affected passengers will be notified and any passengers travelling to/from Ireland on Wed 27 Sept / Thurs 28 Sept should check their Ryanair app for flight updates before travelling to the airport.
‘We regret any inconvenience caused to passengers as a result of this storm which is outside of Ryanair’s control and affects all airlines operating to/from Ireland on Wed 27 Sept and Thurs 28 Sept.’
Meanwhile ScotRail issued a warning about possible train timetable changes if track speed restrictions are brought in.
The rail operator posted on X: ‘Storm Agnes will bring strong winds and heavy rainfall to Scotland (today) and into Thursday with the potential to cause disruption. There may be changes to some of our services if Network Rail introduce train speed limits for safety reasons. Check before you travel.’
Avanti West Coast also warned of disruption, saying: ‘Storm Agnes is on its way. We’ll do everything we can to keep services running, but with heavy rains and high winds expected some journeys may be impacted from this afternoon until tomorrow morning. Please check before you travel.’
Devon County Council said it had brought in extra control centre staff to monitor the road network, while Devon Highways has placed extra teams on standby.
The RAC issued guidance for drivers and warned against driving on coastal and upland routes for motorists not used to such conditions.