Storm Amy battered the U.K., Ireland, and Scandinavia with fierce winds and heavy rain starting yesterday, causing travel chaos and power outages.
London’s Royal Parks closed today as road, rail, and sea travel faced major disruption. Over 2,00,000 homes in Ireland and Northern Ireland lost power, and a man died in Letterkenny, northwest Ireland.
A 154 kilometres per hour gust was recorded on Tiree, off Scotland’s west coast. Ferry services across Scotland were suspended, and fallen trees blocked roads and railways.
Amy, the season’s first named storm, designated by the U.K., Irish, and Dutch weather agencies, also struck Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. Authorities continue to assess the damage as cleanup efforts begin amid ongoing weather warnings.
Weather warnings are in place across the UK as Storm Amy batters the country, bringing close to 100mph winds and heavy rain.
Scotland is facing power outages, mainly in the Highlands which have been worst affected by weather. Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said the network was working to restore power on Saturday morning for more than 60,000 people.
The first named storm of the 2025/2026 season has also brought travel chaos, with widespread delays to trains and flights.
The highest recorded gust on Friday was at Tiree in the Hebrides at 96mph, as it warned of “very strong winds and heavy rain” in northern and western areas.
The north of Scotland is covered by an amber warning for wind until 9pm on Saturday, with yellow warnings covering the whole of Scotland, the north of England and north Wales until the end of the day. A further yellow warning for wind runs until 7pm in the rest of England and Wales.
Yellow warnings for rain are in place in north and west Scotland until midnight and in Northern Ireland until noon.
There are approximately 9,000 properties still without power in Northern Ireland following the high winds caused by Storm Amy.
Alex Houston, NIE Networks operations manager, said: “Our assessment is that the vast majority of properties will be reconnected by tomorrow morning but it’s important to advise that it could be Monday evening at the latest for those circuits impacting very small numbers of customers.
“The yellow alert for wind is still in place until midnight, so that has the potential to impact our restoration efforts and cause further damage, but we will be working to get as many customers restored as quickly as possible.
“We would again urge people to stay well clear of any broken or damaged electrical equipment and to report any damage immediately on 03457 643 643.”
At its peak, Storm Amy caused a loss of supply to approximately 65,000 customers and a further 5,000 customers were affected overnight.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), the distribution network operator for the north of Scotland, said 42,000 homes remain without power following Storm Amy.
It said that as of 3.30pm on Saturday, the power is back on for more than 33,000 customers and work continues to reconnect the remaining 42,000 homes.
The company said hundreds of additional team members are working on SSEN’s response to the storm.
SSEN head of customer operations for the north of Scotland Nik Wheeler said: “I want to reassure our customers that every resource at our disposal is being directed at the reconnection operation and our efforts to ensure people are kept well informed and looked after while these essential repairs are carried out.”
Storm Amy has swept into the UK, bringing heavy rain and strong winds to large parts of the country.
A gust of 96mph was recorded overnight in the Inner Hebrides. An amber wind warning remains in place for parts of northern Scotland and the Met Office is warning of power cuts and flying debris that could endanger life.
A lower level yellow warning for winds has been issued for the rest of the UK until Saturday evening.
A man in his 40s died in the Republic of Ireland on Friday in what police described as a “weather-related incident”.
Parts of Northern Ireland were under an amber wind warning earlier on Friday, and hundreds of schools closed early as a precaution.
In Scotland, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) said it was working to reconnect 42,000 customers on Saturday afternoon. Around 22,000 properties remain without power in Northern Ireland and just over 300 homes had lost power in Wales.
SP Electricity North West said it was working to restore power to just over 1,000 properties across Cumbria after “a very blustery night”.
On Friday night a gust of 96mph was recorded in Tiree in the Inner Hebrides, while Northern Ireland recorded its highest October gust on record, with 92mph at Magilligan, County Londonderry.
Storm Amy is currently moving away from Northern Scotland, taking the most powerful winds with it.
However, a Met Office amber warning will remain in place across northern Scotland until 21:00 BST on Saturday.
Gusts of 60-70mph are forecast with occasional gusts of up to 85mph also possible, so some damage and disruption is still likely throughout Saturday.
Elsewhere across the UK yellow warnings for wind are in force until 19:00, where wind gusts will widely be up to 45-55mph, occasionally up to 65mph in more exposed areas.
Even these wind speeds have the potential to bring down tree debris and possibly whole trees, leading to power cuts and travel disruption.
All eight of London’s royal parks are closed on Saturday and opening times on Sunday will be delayed due to safety inspections.
A statement on the Royal Parks website said: “The safety of visitors and staff is our top priority.”
Heavy rain will continue at times across northern and western Scotland.
While a band of heavy rain moves south across England and Wales, this will weaken, followed by sunny spells and blustery heavy showers.
Storm Amy also set a new record for the deepest area of low pressure in the UK for October.
The earth’s atmosphere exerts pressure on the surface and is measured in hectoPascals (hPa), also called millibars.
Storm Amy showed central pressure of 947.9hPa at Baltasound, Shetland. This exceeds the previous record of 950.9hPa in 1988.
In an area of low pressure the weather is often unsettled.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said the rail network was suspended on Friday due to multiple trees falling, while airports warned passengers to check the status of their flight before flying.
Several ScotRail services and ferries were cancelled ahead of the storm’s arrival, while some bridges will be closed to high-sided vehicles.
On Saturday morning, ScotRail said around 80 trees had been brought down on lines and engineers were checking routes before resuming services.
All services out of Glasgow Central have been suspended until at least 14:00 on Saturday.
By Sunday, Storm Amy will have moved further out into the North Sea so it will be drier with lighter winds for the second half of the weekend.
The next storm name will be Bram. A new list of names is issued every year by the Met Office before the season starts in September with both male and female names chosen by the public.
Storms can be named by either the Met Office, Met Éireann or the Dutch weather service KNMI when impacts are forecast to be “medium” to “high”.
