UK weather news – latest: Coldest night brings heavy snow as thousands still without electricity
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Temperatures dropped to as low as -10C last night following forecasts of the “coldest night of the season” for parts of the UK bringing snow and leaving some without power as Storm Arwen continued to batter the UK.
The Met Office has issued yellow warnings of severe ice across large swathes of England including Newcastle, Manchester, London and Cardiff following freezing temperatures through the night.
North West Motorway Police said 120 lorries became “stuck in the snow” on the M62.
Northern Powergrid, which supplies energy to the northeast, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire, said 240,000 customers lost service but on Sunday supply had been restored to 200,000.
Electricity North West, which provides energy for an area between the Scottish border and Stockport, said 67,000 of 83,000 customers who lost power had seen their supply restored.
Heavy snow led to lorries getting stuck and ploughs being used in a number of areas, with pub staff and Oasis tribute band Noasis stranded since Friday in the Tan Hill Inn in the Yorkshire Dales as a result of heavy snowfall.
I’m a Celebrity 2021: Why has ITV cancelled Monday’s episode?
I’m a Celebrity fans tuning in to ITV for tonight’s episode will be very disappointed.
On Friday (25 November), the first live show of this year’s series was cancelled for the first time ever as a “precautionary” measure due to Storm Arwen.
These measures were extended with ITV announcing that Saturday (26 November) and Sunday’s (28 November) episodes were also cancelled.
Our culture reporter Jacob Stolworthy has the full story below:
I’m a Celebrity disaster as ITV cancels Monday night’s episode
Storm Arwen ‘basically destroyed production’ says former I’m a Celebrity contestant
A former contestant on I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here! has suggested Monday night's show will not be taking place.
TV presenter Matthew Wright, who appeared on the ITV series in 2013, claimed extreme weather conditions had “basically destroyed the production” at Gwrych Castle in North Wales.
ITV has not confirmed nor denied whether tonight's show will take place.
Referring to his experience on the show, Wright told This Morning: “The net effect of it has been that it's basically destroyed the production.
“I don't know how much the viewers can imagine this but it's like, if you were, a sort of Glastonbury Festival.
“It's a huge village that's under canvas, where the editors are and so everything is filmed. Dozens of cameras. All of it has to be edited, whittled down and turned into a programme.”
As images of the damaged site appeared on screen, Wright added: “At the moment, as you can see, no one can work under those conditions because they are really dangerous.”
ICYMI: I’m a Celebrity contestants removed from set due to Storm Arwen
The disruption of Storm Arwen has even led to TV production delays as contestants of I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here were forced to leave the set in Wales.
“While we get the production base back up and running after suffering technical issues due to the storm, we have removed the celebrities from the castle,” reads a statement issued by the broadcaster.
ITV added that the storm caused “significant damage” to the show’s production base in Wales.
The news follows after Friday’s episode (26 November) – the first live show of this year’s series – was cancelled as a “precautionary” measure due to Storm Arwen.
Our reporter Annabel Nugent has the full story below:
I’m A Celeb stars removed from castle after Storm Arwen causes ‘significant damage’
Pub owner nearly crushed by tree amid Storm Arwen
A pub owner in from Bridgend in Wales had a near miss with nature when he was almost killed by a tree while outside smoking.
Cheryl Pound told Wales Online that a cigarette saved her life as stepped out to smoke on Saturday night before a tree came crashing down.
“As you can see in the footage, I went to walk out of the shelter and I don’t know why but something told me to step back. The next thing I knew the tree just came down,” she said.
More than 100,000 homes still without power after Storm Arwen
More than 100,000 homes in the UK are still without power due to damage caused by Storm Arwen.
The Energy Networks Association (ENA) said about 155,000 properties were still suffering with power cuts on Monday afternoon, and described the destruction of electricity lines as the worst seen in Britain since 2005.
This comes as parts of the UK faced the coldest night of the autumn so far, including Shap in Cumbria, north-west England, which the Met Office said recorded the lowest temperature of the season so far at minus 8.7C (16.34F).
Since Storm Arwen battered the UK over the weekend, some 870,000 homes have had their power restored by engineers, the ENA said.
A spokesperson said: “Thousands of engineers are working to restore power to customers as quickly and safely as possible. In addition, and where safe to do so, energy networks are also deploying helicopters and drones to identify and assess damage.
“Engineers are continuing to uncover snapped electricity poles, downed wires and other complex faults. In some areas of the country the damage is some of the worst seen since 2005. Snowfall in some areas is making access very difficult.”
Additional reporting by PA
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