Stormy weather causes disruption.

Gales force winds and rain have caused chaos in parts of central, western, and southern Scotland.

The bad weather brought down trees, caused lorries to topple and left thousands of homes without power.

Westerly gusts reached 80mph overnight leading to the complete closure of the Erskine and Tay Bridges.


_{The storms are expected to continue}

An estimated 8,000 homes are without power in Argyll and 800 are affected in Tayside. Engineers are unable to carry out reports until the wind dies down.

A spokesman for Scottish Hydro Electric said the firm was trying to reintroduce power remotely where possible.

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_©BBC | Gewijzigd: 2 februari 2017, 09:06 uur, door Joyce.s

A driver had a lucky escape in Broughshane, County Antrim when a tree fell on his vehicle as high winds swept across Northern Ireland. Photograph: Paul Faith/PA

Roads have been blocked by falling trees, ferries cancelled and thousands of people left without power as winds of almost 80mph buffeted Scotland and Northern Ireland today. High winds also caused cross-Channel ferries to be delayed by up to 90 minutes, while firefighters in Lincolnshire dealt with a mini-whirlwind. The strongest gusts of 78mph hit the Isle of Islay in western Scotland, causing ferry services between Belfast and Stranraer to be cancelled. Only cars were allowed to cross the Forth road bridge while the Tay and Erskine bridges were completely closed.

The M74 motorway was blocked when four lorries overturned at Abington in South Lanarkshire and about 14,000 homes in Argyll, Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Clyde were without power after high winds damaged cables.

The Met Office said the winds could strengthen today in parts of Scotland and issued a severe weather warning that gales of up to 80mph could cause structural damage.

A spokeswoman for Fife police said: "Numerous trees have been blown down, blocking the roads, and we have had some minor flooding across the region.

"But it has not been a disaster, it has just been a bad winter night due to high winds and sweeping rain."

Police in Northern Ireland closed a road in Lisburn, County Antrim, after power cables were brought down and they banned all traffic on the Foyle Bridge in Londonderry. Heavy seas in the English Channel caused delays to ferry services. Sailings from Dover's eastern docks with P&O Ferries were running about 90 minutes late. Firefighters in East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire said they dealt with a number of incidents, including a "mini-whirlwind" in Scunthorpe last night which moved a metal storage building. There were no injuries. The most serious incident was a minibus crash yesterday near Garrowby Hill in East Yorkshire which left two people in hospital. Firefighters believe the bus could have hit black ice on the road.

_{Bron: Guardian}

Stormen razen over Noordzee.

Het afgelopen weekend is de olieproductie op veel platformen in de Noordzee tijdelijk stopgezet, omdat veel bemanning ontruimd is vanwege de metershoge golven en storm. Afgelopen maandag trok over het zuidelijk deel van de Noordzee een stormlaag voorbij.

Woensdag 9 januari zijn golven van ruim 10 meter gemeten en spookt het behoorlijk. Het stormlaag die de wind tot kracht 10 opzweept kunnen we op de wolkenfoto goed herkennen aan de krul in de bewolking. Het trekt richting de Noorse kust en wordt geleidelijk minder actief.

Het blijft echter nog erg onrustig in het noordelijk deel van de Noordzee, want donderdag trekt opnieuw een actieve depressie voorbij. Golven van ruim 7 meter worden opnieuw verwacht en ook gaat het in de nacht van donderdag op vrijdag flink tekeer.
Pas in het weekend is het minder onstuimig.

_{©Weathernews}