Storm Barra to batter UK as 3000 homes still without power after Storm Arwen

5 December 2021, 15:53 | Updated: 5 December 2021, 23:11

More than 3000 houses remain without power as a wave of strong winds, rain and snow is set to batter the UK and Ireland in a storm Irish forecasters have named Storm Barra.

There are weather warnings in place across much of the UK for Tuesday.

Yellow warnings are in place for wind and snow, with the Met Office warning public transport could be disrupted and coastal communities could be at risk.

Meanwhile the Energy Networks Association reported 3,190 homes remain without power after Storm Arwen swept the UK last week.

This is down from 4,025 homes that were waiting to be reconnected at 8am on Sunday morning.

The Irish Meteorological Service has issued warnings for both Tuesday and Wednesday.

The service said: "Storm Barra will bring very strong winds and spells of heavy rain across Ireland.

"Winds will be strongest in western coastal counties with severe or damaging gusts possible. Heavy rain will bring localised flooding.

"There will also be high waves at sea and a significant possibility of coastal flooding on south and west coasts."

Read more: UK set for more snow and heavy wind as country struggles to recover from Storm Arwen

The latest warnings come nine days after Storm Arwen led to the Met Office issuing red weather warnings, the most severe warning possible.

The storm killed three people after trees fell due to gusting winds of up to 100mph.

Thousands of homes in Scotland remain without power after the storm. Scottish and Southern Electricty Networks described damage as "catastrophic".

Simon Partridge, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said: "In terms of the process of reconnecting power supplies and getting to remote areas, it's not helpful - probably tomorrow being the best day and probably the first half of Tuesday as well, some decent conditions.

"Other than that, a fair bit of rain, some hill snow, and some reasonably strong winds - certainly aiding to slow down the process of reconnecting supplies and getting to the more remote locations to clear trees and so forth.

"It's certainly not ideal, and the higher locations certainly will be seeing some more snow in the coming days."