Major storm lashes Ireland and Scotland as hurricane-force winds down power lines and ground flights

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Damage could be seen in Belfast in Northern Ireland on Friday as a major storm continued to lash Ireland and Scotland with hurricane-force winds. Forecasters issued a rare “red” weather warning, meaning danger to life, across the whole island of Ireland and central and southwest Scotland.

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A fallen tree across the North Road in east Belfast, Northern Ireland, where residents have been urged to stay at home as the entire island braces for the arrival of Storm Eowyn, Friday Jan. 24, 2025. (David Young/PA via AP)

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Parts of a wall of a house have fallen down caused by the winds of storm Eowyn that hit the country in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo)

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People walk their dogs at Tynemouth Longsands on the North East coast of England as sand is blown by the wind as Storm Eowyn hits the country, Friday Jan. 24, 2025. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)

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A man attends to a fallen tree on Malahide Road in Dublin, Ireland as the entire island braces for the arrival of Storm Eowyn, Friday, Jan.24, 2025. (Brian Lawless/PA via AP)

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A fallen tree blocks the road during storm Eowyn that hit the country near Belfast, Northern Ireland, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo)

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Parts of a wall of a house have fallen down caused by the winds of storm Eowyn that hit the country in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo)

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A fallen tree blocks the road during storm Eowyn that hit the country near Belfast, Northern Ireland, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo)

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Two women brave the wind as Storm Eowyn hits the country in Cleveleys, near Blackpool, England, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

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Two women brave the wind as Storm Eowyn hits the country in Cleveleys, near Blackpool, England, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

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A woman holds onto a wall to brave the wind as Storm Eowyn hits the country in Cleveleys, near Blackpool, England, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

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A man braves the wind as storm Eowyn hits the country in Cleveleys, near Blackpool, England, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

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A man with his dog braves the wind as Storm Eowyn hits the country in Cleveleys, near Blackpool, England, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

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A man with his dog braves the wind as Storm Eowyn hits the country in Cleveleys, near Blackpool, England, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

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Two women brave the wind as Storm Eowyn hits the country in Cleveleys, near Blackpool, England, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

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Waves crash on the Seawall during Storm Eowyn that hits the country in Cleveleys, near Blackpool, England, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

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A broken telegraph pole on Blaris Road, Co Antrim, Ireland, as Storm Eowyn hits the country, Friday Jan. 24, 2025. (Jonathan McCambridge/PA via AP)

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A person battles with an umbrella in the wind during Storm Eowyn on George Street, Edinburgh, Friday Jan. 24, 2025, as Storm Eowyn hits the country. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)

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A fallen tree breaks up the pavement during storm Eowyn that hit the country in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo)

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A man walks his dog past fallen tree branches during storm Eowyn that hit the country in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo)

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An aeroplane lands in gusty conditions at Heathrow Airport in London, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, as storm Eowyn disrupts travel the British Isles. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

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A roof blown off during strong winds rests on some bungalows in Amble, Northumberland, in the North East of England, as Storm Eowyn hits the country, on Friday Jan. 24, 2025. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)

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People brave the wind as storm Eowyn hits the country in London, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

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People brave the wind as storm Eowyn hits the country in London, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

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An ambulance attends the scene of a crash during strong winds on the north bound A19 near to the A690 Durham Road, in County Durham, in the North East of England, Friday Jan. 24, 2025, as Storm Eowyn hits the country. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)

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A fence and a mobile toilet blown over by the wind as Storm Eowyn hits the country in Blackpool, England, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

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Workers secure boards from the wind as Storm Eowyn hits the country in Blackpool, England, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

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A man walking two dogs braves the wind as Storm Eowyn hits the country in Blackpool, England, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

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Workers survey a fallen tree in Dublin, Friday Jan. 24, 2025, as the top-level red warning for wind is in place in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. (Brian Lawless/PA via AP)

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People walk on the seaside as Storm Eowyn hits the country in Blackpool, England, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

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A fallen tree blocks a road during storm Eowyn that hit the country in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo)

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Dog walkers brave the wind as Storm Eowyn hits the country in Blackpool, England, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

By JILL LAWLESS and PAN PYLAS

LONDON (AP) — Millions of people in Ireland and northern parts of the U.K. heeded the advice of authorities to stay at home Friday in the face of hurricane-force winds that disabled power networks and brought widespread travel disruptions.

Forecasters had issued a rare “red” weather warning, meaning danger to life, across the whole island of Ireland and central and southwest Scotland.

Ireland bore the brunt of the storm first, as it was hit with wind gusts of 114 mph (183 kph), the strongest since World War II, as a winter storm spiraled in from the Atlantic before hitting Scotland.

A man died after a tree fell on his car in County Donegal in the northwest of Ireland, local police said.

The storm was moving fast and is expected to have cleared Scotland’s shores by late Friday.

City centers, such as Dublin in Ireland, Belfast in Northern Ireland and Glasgow in Scotland were eerily quiet, much like the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, as shops stayed closed and people heeded the advice to not venture out. For those that did leave home and were caught in one of the wind gusts, it was a struggle to stay upright.

“I want to thank members of the public for largely following Police Scotland’s advice not to travel,” said Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney.

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More than a million homes, farms and businesses in the island of Ireland and Northern Ireland were without power as record-breaking wind speeds swept across the island. A further 100,000 customers in Scotland were also reported to have lost power.

Schools were closed and trains, ferries and more than 1,000 flights were canceled in the Republic of Ireland and the U.K., even as far south as London Heathrow, as the system, named Storm Éowyn (pronounced Ay-oh-win) by weather authorities, roared in.

The disruption is set to last through Saturday. ScotRail, for example, said the storm caused significant damage to infrastructure and that a full assessment of the network will need to be done, which will include the removal of debris.

Ireland’s weather office, Met Eireann, said the 114 mph gusts early Friday were recorded at Mace Head on the west coast, beating a record of 113 mph (182 kph) set in 1945. Wind speeds in Scotland were slightly lower through the day, though still historically high.

Part of the storm’s energy originated with the system that brought historic snowfall along the Gulf Coast of the U.S., said Jason Nicholls, lead international forecaster at the private weather company AccuWeather.

Éowyn became a bomb cyclone, which happens when a storm’s pressure drops 24 millibars in 24 hours, as it brought whipping winds and heavy rain to parts of Ireland and the U.K. Winds blowing over the ocean encounter less friction than they do traveling over other terrain, like hilly land, allowing them to reach intense speeds.

The storm was so powerful that meteorologists say a sting jet developed, meaning Eowyn tapped into exceptionally strong winds higher up in the atmosphere. A sting jet is a narrow area of winds moving 100 mph (161 kph) or faster that is drawn down to the Earth’s surface from the mid-troposphere and lasts for a few hours.

It’s not immediately clear whether the powerful 114 mph (183 kph) wind gust that hit Ireland is linked to the sting jet.

“It’s hard to know until people go back and look through the data, but it really looks like something that a sting jet would produce,” said Nicholls.

Scientists say pinpointing the exact influence of climate change on a storm is challenging, but all storms are happening in an atmosphere that is warming abnormally fast due to human-released pollutants like carbon dioxide and methane.

“As the climate gets warmer, we can expect these storms to become even more intense, with greater damages,” said Hayley Fowler, a professor of climate change impacts at Newcastle University.

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Associated Press writer Isabella O’Malley contributed from Philadelphia.

JILL LAWLESS

London correspondent covering politics and more.

PAN PYLAS

Testing short biography