Storm Dudley: Thousands lose electricity in north of England as first of two storms batters UK

Second storm due to hit on Friday to bring winds of up to 100mph

The first of two storms hitting the UK this week left thousands of people in northern England without power overnight.

Residents in North East England, Cumbria, North Yorkshire and Lancashire were plunged into darkness as Storm Dudley hammered power lines with gale-force winds of more than 70mph.

Met Office forecasters had put in place yellow and amber alerts for winds, warning of travel disruption and damage to buildings.

Officials last night put the brakes on Tyne and Wear's Metro services due to storm damage. Some services were still not up and running on Thursday morning.

"Works remain ongoing to repair damage caused by #StormDudley," the service said in a tweet.

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Damage to lines halted all services towards Glasgow and Edinburgh as the weather system, driven by a jet stream coming in from the Atlantic Ocean, caused commuter chaos.

Avanti West Coast, which operates lines to northern England and Scotland, said it will last night it will be operating an amended timetable due to the stormy conditions.

Journey times will be extended due to speed restrictions.

Stormy weather caused by a jet stream coming from the Atlantic Ocean (PA)

"We strongly recommend customers do not travel on Friday 18 & instead travel on Thursday 17 or Saturday 19 Feb with their original tickets," the operator said.

Train and ferry services were also affected.

Storm Eunice, the second of the two weather systems, is expected to batter the UK on Friday with even stronger winds. The Met Office has now upgraded its weather warning for the storm to red because of the winds expected - meaning it poses danger to life from flying debris.

Eunice could bring gales of up to 100mph as forecasters warn the storm could be the worst to hit Britain in 30 years, potentially eclipsing the 1990 Burns Day Storm that brought wind speeds of 107mph to Aberporth in Wales.

Snow warnings are also in place for the northeast of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland as Eunice is expected to bring heavy snow and blizzard conditions.