Storm Ciarán triggers three days of travel chaos in the UK and beyond

Storm Ciarán, the latest spell of bad weather to hit the UK, is already causing widespread travel disruption – with cancellations and delays expected to last until Friday.

The Met Office stays Storm Ciarán will cross the southern part of the UK on Thursday. But ahead of the storm, the weather service warns “a squally cold front will move eastwards across southern and southeast England bringing bursts of heavy rain and coastal gusts of 60-70mph, mainly from Dorset eastwards”.

Chief meteorologist at the Met Office, Dan Suri, said: “Wind and rain warnings associated with Storm Ciarán are in force from Wednesday night onwards into Friday, with further updates possible on Wednesday.

“Storm Ciarán is expected to bring very strong winds along southern coastal areas of England in particular where gusts of 70 to 80mph are possible, gusts perhaps exceeding 85mph in the most exposed locations. Further inland, gusts could reach up to 50 or 60mph.

“As well as strong winds, this deep low pressure system will bring heavy rain to many parts of the UK. Much of southern England and south Wales, as well as parts of north Wales, northeast England, southeast Scotland and perhaps the east of Northern Ireland look to see the wettest conditions between Wednesday evening and Friday morning.

“Some parts of South Wales and southwest England may see 80mm [3 inches] of rain. This rain will fall on already saturated ground, bringing the risk of flooding.”

Amber warnings for winds are in force for southwestern England and Wales on Thursday morning, as well as for the far south and southeast of England during the day and early evening on Thursday.

Rail

National Rail is warning that “heavy rain accompanied by strong winds” will affect journeys across Wales and the south of England on Wednesday and Thursday, and across the northeast of England on Thursday and Friday.

Already nine train operators that are likely to be badly affected are allowing passengers booked on Thursday 2 November to travel on either Wednesday or Friday – even if they have an advance ticket. The operators are:

Great Western Railway (GWR) is advising passengers not to travel in Cornwall from 8pm on Wednesday until at least 12 noon on Thursday. It has cancelled all trains on the main line west of St Austell towards Penzance, as well as branch lines, during that spell.

Network Rail will apply a speed restriction from late Wednesday and throughout Thursday of 50mph to all trains on coastal routes in southern England, and between the coast and Three Bridges.

Commuters are warned: “Work from home on Thursday if you can, avoiding any non-essential journeys particularly early on Thursday morning.”

CrossCountry says: “The forecast severe weather means that fewer trains are able to run between Taunton and Plymouth. It is anticipated that from 6pm today there will be significant disruption.”

On the East Coast main line, connecting London King’s Cross with Yorkshire, northeast England and Scotland, LNER warns disruption to services due to Storm Ciarán will continue until at least Saturday 4 November – and is urging passengers not to attempt to travel before then.

The train operator says: “We strongly advise customers to avoid travelling on Thursday 2 November and Friday 3 November.“Some LNER trains will be running, but there is likely to be major disruption including severe delays, short-notice cancellations and overcrowding.

Passengers travelling exclusively on LNER can use their tickets on any LNER service on Monday or Tuesday 6/7 November.

In France, all regional express trains in the Hauts de France region – stretching from north of Paris to Calais and Dunkirk – have been cancelled on Thursday.

The train operator warns: “Exceptional phenomena are expected with forecasts of violent winds in the North of France. In order to guarantee the safety of travellers and staff, a total interruption of TER Hauts-de-France traffic is planned for Thursday 2 November all day, with possible consequences on Friday 3 November in the morning.”

Red alert: Met Office shipping forecast map

(Met Office)

Ferry

All sailings by DFDS Ferries between the UK and France have been cancelled from late on Wednesday evening to Friday morning.

The line normally links Dover with both Calais and Dunkirk. But the company says: “We regret to inform that sailings from the 11.59pm departure on 1 November until and including the 2am departure on 3 November have been suspended due to the extreme weather conditions.

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused and we appreciate your understanding in this matter. Rest assured that the safety of our passengers remains our utmost priority.

“For passengers affected by the cancellation, our customer service representatives are available to assist you with rebooking options or answer any questions you may have. We understand the disappointment this may cause, and we appreciate your patience.”

Earlier DFDS said its Newhaven-Dieppe link would be suspended for 24 hours from Wednesday evening.

Irish Ferries currently plans to operate all its Dover-Calais sailings, but Thursday’s Dublin to Cherbourg voyage is cancelled because of expected bad weather.

Brittany Ferries is telling travellers: “Weather-related delays and/or cancellations may occur on Wednesday 1 November and (particularly) Thursday 2 November. We will continue to monitor forecasts carefully in the coming 24 hours.”

Air

Jersey airport, the main hub for the Channel Islands, will close to all passenger flights on Thursday 2 November. Passengers are told: “Airport authorities have decided to close the airport to commercial operations all day on Thursday.

“The airport will remain open for emergency and medical flights, and will reopen on Friday after a visual inspection of the airport infrastructure.”

A spokesperson for easyJet, which operates many flights to and from the island, said: “Following the decision by Jersey Airport to close, we have cancelled our flights to and from Jersey and will continue to monitor the weather closely.”

The spokesperson added: “Due to strong winds forecast from Storm Ciaran impacting parts of southern UK on Thursday, like other airlines we are expecting some disruption to our flying programme.

“We continue to advise all passengers due to fly with us on Thursday to check the status of their flights … and to allow extra time to travel to the airport due to the impact of the weather on local public transport services.”