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(Alliance News) - Storm Brendan has forced airlines to divert flights scheduled to land at Gatwick as gales of up to 80mph caused disruption around the UK.
Seven flights to the West Sussex airport have been diverted to other locations across the UK so far, after gales in excess of 40mph struck the area on Monday evening.
Gatwick Airport said two Wizz Air flights, four easyJet services and one Norwegian Air flight were diverted. One easyJet flight from Edinburgh was forced to land at Birmingham.
Conditions around the airport will remain blustery overnight, according to the Met Office, which warned that stronger gusts could batter the area on Tuesday afternoon.
Gales of up to 80mph affected railways across the country on Monday, while drivers were advised to take extra care on the roads.
After plaguing parts of Ireland, causing thousands of homes and businesses to lose power, the storm brought high winds to parts of England and Scotland.
A yellow wind warning issued by the Met Office, covering the west of the UK, the island of Ireland and the north-east coast of Scotland, was lifted at midnight.
But forecasters said winds of 60mph-70mph could continue to batter north-western Scotland into Tuesday, when a yellow warning of wind has been issued for much of England, although it will no longer be classed as Storm Brendan.
Meteorologist Alex Burkill, from the Met Office, said more wet and windy weather is forecast to come up from the South West on Tuesday afternoon.
"That's not Storm Brendan – Storm Brendan has moved northwards by this point," he said.
"It's not too far away so we're still under the influence of it, but this new feature that comes in is going to bring some heavy, persistent rain across much of the UK, to be honest, with very strong winds."
Burkill said the gales were much less likely to reach Monday's highs of over 80mph, but inland areas could be hit with gusts of more than 50mph.
He added: "For many, tomorrow will actually be a windier day than today, despite the fact that today was named and tomorrow isn't."
Eight flood warnings and 79 alerts issued by the Environment Agency remained in place on Monday night.
The Met Office has issued a yellow warning of rain to cover the South East on Tuesday, where heavy rain is expected to cause disruption and the flooding of a few homes and businesses is "likely".
"In those areas, the ground is already saturated after what was a very wet December, and also a wet autumn, so that's why we're going to see some localised issues due to the heavy rainfall," Burkill said.
Although the rest of the week looks unsettled, conditions are set to be drier and brighter at the weekend.
The strongest gust recorded by the Met Office on Monday was 87mph at South Uist, in the western Isles.
By Emma Bowden, PA
source: PA
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