Entire UK facing gales and downpours as Storm Isha blows in

Almost the whole of the UK is under weather warnings as strong winds from Storm Isha sweep in.

Met Office amber warnings for all areas except London and parts of the South East are in place until 06:00.

Gusts of up to 80mph (128km/h) are expected, posing a risk to life. The Met Office said it was rare for all of the UK to be under such an alert.

A red warning for gusts of up to 100mph in parts of northern Scotland is also in place until the early hours.

It warns of a “short spell of extremely strong winds leading to danger to life, structural damage and disruption” in an area stretching from Thurso and Wick in the north, Fraserburgh and Peterhead to the east and Cromarty and Nairn in the west.

It came as Network Rail imposed a 50mph speed restrictions across most routes, with disruption likely to continue into Monday morning.

Scotland’s railway operator cancelled all of its rush-hour trains and warned services may not begin running until “later on Monday”. There are reports of trees damaging overhead power cables on some lines.

East Midlands Railway has also said delays and alterations to its services were “likely”, and LNER announced no trains will run north of Newcastle until midday.

Southeastern has cancelled early Monday morning trains before 06:00 into and out of London to allow engineers to check for debris.

Meanwhile, air traffic control restrictions have been put in place, leading to cancellations and causing some flights to divert.

A Tui flight travelling from Sharm El Sheikh to Glasgow Airport declared an emergency because of the storm and diverted to Manchester airport, and holidaymakers returning home from Tenerife on a Ryanair flight landed at Cologne Bonn airport in Germany after failing to touch down in Edinburgh.

Tens of thousands are without power, including 45,000 in Northern Ireland, 8,000 in north-west England, and 3,000 in Wales.