Met Office issue warnings for strong wind and heavy rain across UK

Weather warnings for wind and rain are in place across large parts of the the UK and Ireland on Saturday, with weather services cautioning gusts and heavy rainfall could cause travel difficulties and flooding.

A yellow alert for rain covering areas of Dorset and Devon is in place until 9am on Saturday, while another has been issued for parts of north-west England until early Sunday morning.

Under the latter, an area stretching from Sheffield to Carlisle could see two separate bands of heavy rain in the morning and evening.

The Met Office warned that flooding of a few homes and businesses in affected areas was “likely”, while bus, rail and road journeys could be affected by the conditions.

A separate wind alert covering large parts of Wales, the Midlands and northern England comes into force at 9am on Saturday, while further yellow weather warnings for both rain and wind have been issued for southern Scotland tonight and for Northern Ireland until 7pm.

It comes as the wet and blustery conditions have been named as Storm Elin by Met Eireann, the Irish meteorological service.

Much of Ireland is also under wind warnings on Saturday with Met Eireann advising that severe gusts could cause disruption and travel difficulties.

Areas with Irish Sea coasts could see gusts of up to 70mph, with parts of the Midlands, northern England and Northern Ireland experiencing wind speeds between 45 and 55mph, the Met Office said.

Meanwhile, rainfall could reach levels of up to 8cm in some areas.

Wind speeds will increase in the west throughout Saturday morning and across other areas during the afternoon, before easing slowly from the west through the evening.

Met Office spokesman Stephen Dixon said a band of heavy wind and rain will move from the south-west of the UK towards the north-east on Saturday, “bringing with it heavy rain for much of the country”.

He said: “By the afternoon most of the heavy wind and rain will have passed and it will just be showers for southern areas.

“We will also be seeing some quite strong winds in Wales, the Midlands, northern England and Northern Ireland, particularly coastal communities around the Irish Sea.

“We’re in for a wet and windy weekend.”

The bad weather could cause delays to road, rail, air and ferry transport, and coastal routes, sea fronts and coastal communities may be affected by spray and large waves, the forecaster said.

The unsettled weather will continue into Sunday and next week, with a chance of further weather warnings as another area of low pressure approaches.