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Ten flood warnings in place across UK

Millions of people have been told to stay at home as one of the worst storms in decades, Storm Eunice, hits the UK.

The Met Office has issued a second rare red weather warning to cover London, and south-east and east England.

A red warning – meaning there is a danger to life from flying debris – covering parts of south-west England and south Wales is in place.

Hundreds of schools will be closed, all trains in Wales are suspended and the military is on stand-by.

Forecasters warn Eunice could bring wind gusts of up to 90mph on Friday, causing significant disruption and power cuts.

BBC Weather said it “could well be one of the worst storms in three decades”.

Eunice is the second storm in a week for the UK after Storm Dudley battered parts of Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland, leaving thousands of homes without power.

Red weather warnings are rare, and mean that roofs could be blown off, power lines brought down and trees uprooted – as well as flying debris which could cause a danger to life.

The last red warning was for Storm Arwen in November last year, but before that one had not been issued since the so-called “Beast from the East” in 2018.

BBC Weather meteorologist Ben Rich said he expected Eunice to “cause damage, huge disruption and coastal flooding” – but he said it was “impossible to know exactly how bad this storm is going to be”.

“Winds of the same strengths will cause different impacts in different regions of the UK – for example, coasts of western Scotland are far better prepared for 80mph winds than inland parts of southern England.”

BBC Wales weatherman Derek Brockway said although Eunice was not a hurricane, winds would reach hurricane force level.