Storm Ciaran: Red warning in Channel Islands, 85mph gusts and ferries cancelled as wet weather sweeps towards UK
Ferry services have been cancelled and a red weather warning has been issued for the Channel Islands as Storm Ciaran sweeps in towards the south of England.
Forecasters said gusts of 85mph could hit the islands on Wednesday, with wind speeds of up to 110mph in the English Channel.
High tides could also force the closure of coastal roads and residents have been urged to “avoid outdoor activities”.
Condor Ferries has cancelled its freight and passenger routes between the Channel Islands and the UK on Wednesday and Thursday, while DFDS has axed services between Newhaven in East Sussex and Dieppe in France.
Brittany Ferries has also warned of possible disruption to its cross-Channel routes.
It comes after the Met Office issued amber weather warnings for the South West and south coast of England for Thursday as Storm Ciaran approaches.
The agency said the wind and rain warnings would be in place from Wednesday night to Friday, with the storm due to cross southern Britain on Thursday.
Ahead of its arrival, parts of Northern Ireland have already been flooded by heavy rain and people have been warned not to travel.
Check the latest five-day forecast where you are
A Met Office amber alert warning has been issued for southwest and southern England on Thursday
Met Office yellow weather warnings for rain are in place until 9am on Wednesday
Met Office yellow weather warnings for rain in the region were in place earlier today.
It warned of rainfall of between 25mm and 60mm in places, with up to 100mm on higher ground.
Yellow weather warnings for rain and wind are also in place between Wednesday and Friday across parts of England, Scotland and Wales.
Amber weather warnings are in place for Cornwall and Devon between 3am and 11am on Thursday, and between 6am and 5pm the same day along the coast from Hampshire to Kent, as well as parts of East Anglia.
Forecasters said strong gusts – of 70 to 80mph, perhaps exceeding 85 mph – could disrupt travel and cause damage to buildings, while flying debris could pose “a danger to life”.
Trains and planes could be delayed, while roads and bridges face potential closure.
Flooding in Northern Ireland
There was flooding in Newry in County Down on Monday after the city’s canal burst its banks, while in Dromantine around 100 sheep were rescued after becoming stranded in a flooded field.
A street is sandbagged to prevent water flowing further through the streets in Newry Town, Co Down
Flood water in McCartan Bros clothes store in Newry Town, Co Down
Read more:
Why Storm Ciaran will be so bad
Newry resident Dessie Heatley described the scenes as a “repeat of what happened here around 35 years ago”.
“We were up and down here in boats,” he said. “It’s pretty bad, I’m sure all the shopkeepers are raging, we’d no warning or nothing.”
Police have advised people to avoid Newry city.
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Residents row boat across flooded NI streets
Downpours expected in parts of England and Wales
Storm Ciaran is set to bring strong winds and heavy downpours to southern parts of England and Wales – with “unsettled” conditions forecast for much of the UK.
Rainfall of 20mm to 25mm is expected across southern and western areas, with potentially more falling over higher ground, the Met Office said.
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The forecaster warned conditions could worsen in areas already affected by flooding from Storm Babet.
Met Office meteorologist Clare Nasir said Storm Ciaran was “likely to be a notch down” in intensity from Storm Babet, but flooding could still occur because the ground is “so laden with water” and river levels “are at their highest”.
She told Sky News the key features would be “wind damage” and a “lot of rain”, and added that the wet weather would slowly move northwards.
Ms Nasir said the storm would start affecting southern areas of the UK on Wednesday evening, as well as on Thursday morning during rush hour, before it tracks northwards.
“We could see some coastal flooding because the winds will be so strong, particularly initially across more southern areas,” she said.
“It’s not a fast-moving system, so it’s going to be with us for at least two-and-a-half, if not three, days and most places will be impacted in some shape or form by this storm.”
Her colleague Marco Petagna added: “There are possible gusts of 80mph to 90mph in some exposed southern areas. It’s probably quite a nasty storm this one.”
Is Storm Ciaran affecting an area near you?
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Zoe Ball is leaving her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show after six years.
The 53-year-old, who recently lost her mother to cancer, will present her last show on Friday, 20 December.
Ball leaves Wogan House with her replacement, Scott Mills. Pic: PA
She said she was leaving to focus on family, but will remain part of the Radio 2 team and will give further details next year.
Announcing the news on her Tuesday show, she said: “After six years of fun times alongside you all on the breakfast show, I’ve decided it’s time to step away from the early alarm call and start a new chapter.
“You know I think the world of you all, listeners, and it truly has been such a privilege to share the mornings with you, to go through life’s little ups and downs, we got through the lockdown together, didn’t we?
“We’ve shared a hell of a lot, the good times, the tough times, there’s been a lot of laughter. And I am going to miss you cats.”
Scott Mills will replace Ball on the breakfast show following her departure next month.
“Zoe and I have been such good friends now for over 25 years and have spent much of that time as part of the same radio family here at Radio 2 and also on Radio 1,” he said.
“She’s done an incredible job on this show over the past six years, and I am beyond excited to be handed the baton.”
Hugging outside the BBC building on the day of the announcement, Ball said she was “really chuffed for my mate and really excited about it”.
Ball was the first female host of both the BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2 breakfast shows, starting at the Radio 1 breakfast show in 1998, and taking over her current Radio 2 role from Chris Evans in 2020 after he left the show.
She took a break from hosting her show over the summer, returning in September.
Ahead of her stint in radio, Ball – who is the daughter of children’s presenter Johnny Ball – co-hosted the BBC’s Saturday morning children’s magazine show Live & Kicking alongside Jamie Theakston for three years from 1996.
She has two children, Woody and Nelly, with her ex-husband, DJ and musician Norman Cook, known professionally as Fatboy Slim.
Ball said in her announcement her last show towards the end of December will be “just in time for Christmas with plenty of fun and shenanigans”.
“While I’m stepping away from the Breakfast Show, I’m not disappearing entirely – I’ll still be a part of the Radio 2 family, with more news in the New Year,” she added.
“I’m excited to embrace my next chapter, including being a mum in the mornings, and I can’t wait to tune in on the school run!”
Helen Thomas, head of Radio 2, said: “Zoe has woken up the nation on Radio 2 with incredible warmth, wit and so much joy since January 2019, and I’d like to thank her for approaching each show with as much vim and vigour as if it were her first. I’m thrilled that she’ll remain an important part of the Radio 2 family.”
Mills, 51, got his first presenting role aged just 16 for a local station in Hampshire, and went on to present in Bristol and Manchester, before joining BBC Radio 1 in 1998.
He’s previously worked as a cover presenter on Radio 2, but this is his first permanent role on the station.
UK
More prisoners are being transferred to less secure jails to tackle overcrowding crisis, Sky News understands
The prison service is starting to recategorise the security risk of offenders to ease capacity pressures, Sky News understands.
It involves lowering or reconsidering the threshold of certain offenders to move them from the closed prison estate (category A to C) to the open estate (category D) because there are more free cell spaces there.
Examples of this could include discounting adjudications – formal hearings when a prisoner is accused of breaking the rules – for certain offenders, so they don’t act as official reasons not to transport them to a lower-security jail.
Prisoners are also categorised according to an Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP) status. There are different levels – basic, standard and enhanced – based on how they keep to the rules or display a commitment to rehabilitation.
Usually ‘enhanced’ prisoners take part in meaningful activity – employment and training – making them eligible among other factors, to be transferred to the open estate.
Insiders suggest this system in England and Wales is being rejigged so that greater numbers of ‘standard’ prisoners can transfer, whereas before it would more typically be those with ‘enhanced’ status.
Open prisons have minimal security and allow eligible prisoners to spend time on day release away from the prison on license conditions to carry out work or education.
The aim is to help reintegrate them back into society once they leave. As offenders near the end of their sentence, they are housed in open prisons.
Many of those released as part of the early release scheme in October after serving 40% of their sentence were freed from open prisons.
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Overcrowding in UK prisons
They were the second tranche of offenders freed as part of this scheme, and had been sentenced to five years or more.
Despite early release measures, prisons are still battling a chronic overcrowding crisis. The male estate is almost full, operating at around 97% capacity.
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Prison recalls soar as justice system struggles
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Sky News understands there continue to be particular pinch points across the country.
Southwest England struggled over the weekend with three space-related ‘lockouts’ – which means prisoners are held in police suites or transferred to other jails because there is no space.
One inmate is believed to have been transported from Exeter to Cardiff.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The new government inherited a prison system on the point of collapse. We took the necessary action to stop our prisons from overflowing and to protect the public.
“This is not a new scheme. Only less-serious offenders who meet a strict criteria are eligible, and the Prison Service can exclude anyone who can’t be managed safely in a category D prison.”
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