Storm Eunice registered a record-breaking surge that hit the United Kingdom and Ireland, leaving a trail of mayhem and destruction. Prior to the record-breaking strength of Eunice, millions of people suffered severe disruption, thereby causing massive structural damage, transport confusion, widespread power outage, injury, and death.
On the evening of Friday, four deaths have been reported in Ireland and the United Kingdom. According to the Office of Met, wind gustiness and speed registered to a strength of 122 miles per hour. This was recorded at Needles on the Wight Isle. This record is tagged as the highest so far in the history of England. Weather authorities also labeled Eunice as the worst storm after the deadly Burn’s Day storm that killed 47 persons more than three decades ago.
Authorities said that approximately one-third of the UK’s population or roughly 20 million individuals were advised to remain in their respective homes as the country’s Met Office established two unusual red warnings specifically in the areas of London, South Wales, and Southern England.
Because of the surmounting disruptions brought about by Eunice, thousands of businesses and schools across the country closed. With the intensified strength of the storm on Friday night, an estimated 435,000 homes were abandoned due to power loss. Train services and flight cancellations by the hundreds were also reported. In addition, major roads and thoroughfares were also closed as the storm intensifies.
In Haringey, in the northern portion of London, a middle-aged woman died because of a tree that fell on her car. In another incident, a council worker in his sixties also died because a huge tree fell on him in Wexford County while working during the storm.
In addition to the two reported deaths was a Merseyside incident. The police authorities reported that a man in his fifties was killed in Netherton when the debris struck the windshield of his car while traveling. The fourth death case was a man in his twenties who died when his car hit a tree while traveling. Another man suffered serious injuries and was immediately taken to the hospital for treatment.
In Europe’s mainland, five deaths have been reported after the storm made landfall there and this includes an old British man that dwells in the city of Ypres, Belgium.
Various buildings and infrastructures including Sennen’s lifeboat station and London’s Millennium Dome sustained a great deal of damage, with panels that have been ripped off by the strong winds. The Dome contained about a thousand evacuees who were transferred to safer edifices.
On the other hand, the top portion of the church’s spire in Wells, a cathedral city in Somerset, was overturned by the strong gusts of the storm. Meanwhile, a tower situated at Grain’s power station in the county of Kent also collapsed.
A prized and much-loved tree in a park in Bude also fell and crashed to the ground. In the southern portion of Britain, hundreds of trees also fell and caused road blockages and power outages.
The United Kingdom’s committee on civil contingencies gathered together and conducted a meeting and discussion as to what possible measures should be implemented. Prior to the said gathering, the British army also stands by and waits for further instructions from the authorities.
The ambulance service of South Central and London’s Fire Brigade declared major occurrences.
Tom Morgan, a meteorology expert who works at the Met Office announced that better tracking devices, procedures, and messaging were effective tools that weren’t present during the Burn’s Day storm in 1987. With such innovations, people can now do more preparations that could make them safe and secure during strong storms like Eunice.
