Storm Eleanor: Thousands without power as Britain is lashed with 100mph winds

Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Storm Eleanor swept across Britain, leaving thousands without power and disrupting transportation services.

A yellow warning is still in place for Wales, England, most of Northern Ireland and parts of southern Scotland after up to 100 mph winds were recorded overnight.

About 3,000 homes across Northern Ireland are still without power on Wednesday while 1,000 homes in England and 300 in Wales are without power as well.

Ireland's taoiseach Leo Varadkar called a meeting of Ireland's national emergency committee, after storm Eleanor initially left 55,000 homes without power.

"The damage caused by Storm Eleanor includes power lines brought down by falling trees and poles broken by the high winds," Julia Carson, a spokeswoman from Northern Ireland Electricity, said.

"We have been working in difficult conditions since yesterday evening to restore power to over 20,000 customers and we'll continue to respond to reports of damage and reconnect supplies as quickly and safely as possible."

Transportation routes were also disrupted by the storm, with several major bridges closed due to high winds and reports of fallen trees blocking roads.

Two fly-away trampolines landed on train tracks in Buckinghamshire and overturned vehicles forced closures on the A1M, M6 and M5.

The storm hit coastal towns and villages in north Cornwall the hardest, as a 40 foot section of the Portreath harbour wall collapsed.

"It's collapsed downwards onto what used to be the crazy golf course," Colin Higgs, chairman of the Portreath Harbour Association, said. "The waves are very strong. We're now a few hours after high tide but this happened about 5am and water pressure caused the problem."

"A large wave came up and taken all that wall away with it."

Strong winds blew off the roof of an apartment above the Heathway shops in Shard End.

The Met Office warned that although the worst of the storm had passed, strong winds at 45-50 mph inland and greater than 60 mph along the coasts were to be expected.

"Storm Eleanor has swept through and the eye is now crossing the North Sea, although there will continue to be strong gusts through the day," Meteorologist Becky Mitchell said.

"We have seen some heavy showers push through across the south of the UK along with hail, loud thunder and lightning, which has woken people up. It is possible there will be quite widespread disruption this morning and it is worth checking before you travel."

BREAKING: Storm Eleanor has blown the roof off flats above Heathway shops in Shard End. Emergency services have cordoned off the area whilst they make the scene safe. No injuries reported. pic.twitter.com/tBMRQQwilV

- Birmingham Updates (@BhamUpdates) January 3, 2018