Storm Lilian batters UK as strong winds disrupt travel and music festivals

Storm Lilian has swept across large parts of the UK on Friday causing power cuts, cancelled flights, severe train delays and problems at music festivals.

Conditions have been ucharacteristically wet and windy for the UK at this time of year, as a deep area of low pressure - the type usually responsible for stormy weather - formed on Thursday night and battered parts of the country.

Active and fast winds in the high atmosphere drove this low-pressure areas towards the UK, creating Storm Lilian and bringing the remnants of Hurricane Ernesto , which struck the US, to British shores.

Pictures showed collapsed trees, market stalls being destroyed and scaffolding being blown over as wind speeds reached more than 75mph in some areas of northern England, southern Scotland and Wales.

British Airways cancelled 14 flights which were scheduled to take off from Heathrow Airport on Friday morning, and delayed others.

A spokesperson for BA said: “Due to restrictions imposed by air traffic control as a result of adverse weather across the UK, we’ve made some minor adjustments to our schedule.” Flights to Scotland, Northern Ireland, Italy, the US and Switzerland were cancelled.

LNER, Transpennine Express, Northern Rail, Avanti West Coast and many other train lines all reported delays as a result of weather disruption.

Hundreds of homes across northern England were left without power this morning, with electricity companies still trying to reconnect homes in the northeast.

Northern Powergrid said that 60,000 customers were affected by “high levels of disruption” to the power supplies, adding at midday that 27,000 customers had been reconnected to the grid.

The company supplies electricity to North-East England, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire, with most reports of outages coming from central northern areas including Leeds, Doncaster, Sheffield and York.

Louise Lowes, director of customer service at Northern Powergrid, said according to the BBC: “Our main priorities are to deal with emergency situations as quickly as possible, supporting our customers and ensure our people can work safely as soon as the conditions allow.”

Bolton Food and Drink festival were left “devastated” this morning as around 20 stalls were demolished by strong winds in “scenes of devastation” as stocks were destroyed.

Leeds Festival was also thrown into chaos, as festivalgoers desperately tried to hold down tents being battered by strong winds, while others filmed tents flying through the air.

Two stages, the BBC Radio 1 Stage and Aux Stage, were closed for the day as strong winds struck the Bramham Park arena - which opened late as a result.

In an urgent statement this morning on X, the festival wrote: “Everybody can see and feel that we’re suffering from the winds currently. We’re urging you to stay in your tents if you are onsite and feel safe to do so. If you are in your car, please remain there.”

Organisers remain optimistic that festivalgoers will enjoy an “amazing weekend” despite the setbacks.

Across the rest of the weather is set to be a mix of sunshine and showers across the UK, according to a Met Office.

Storm Lilian moved into the North Sea on Friday afternoon, with scattered showers across northern and western areas, before a wet start to the weekend takes hold for many parts of southern and central England.

A Yellow Warning for rain has been issued for southern and eastern England between 6am-1pm on Saturday.

Met Office Chief Meteorologist Matthew Lehnert said: “The weekend’s weather will start on a damp note for southern and eastern England, with 15-30mm of rain likely to fall in the warning area quite widely, with 50-70mm possible in a few spots where heavier bursts of rain converge.

“Rainfall intensity will decrease in the afternoon, leaving some showers in southern England, as well as further showers in the northwest.”

Following Saturday, settled conditions will develop in the South and East with conditions largely dry for the remainder of the bank holiday weekend, and temperatures recovering by Monday.

Occasional showers, clouds, and in some areas heavy rain can be expected in parts of Northern Ireland, southwest Scotland, northwest England and Wales on Sunday.