A number of festive events in Northern Ireland are being cancelled this weekend amid the approach of Storm Darragh.The whole island is affected by the second highest level of weather warning.
Belfast’s Christmas market is among Saturday’s closures and some other events and facilities across NI councils are closed. Flights and ferries have also been affected.An amber warning for wind, which is more severe, has been issued for Northern Ireland from 01:00 GMT on Saturday until 21:00, while some counties in the Republic of Ireland have been issued with a red warning.
A yellow warning for wind and rain came into force at 15:00 on Friday with the rain warning expiring at 12:00 on Saturday. The wind warning will stay in place until 06:00 on Sunday.
Storm Darragh is the fourth named storm of the season, following storms Ashley, Bert and Conall.The strongest winds will reach the west coast of Ireland on Friday night before moving east across the island.
The Met Office is expecting gusts around the coast of Northern Ireland to reach speeds about 80mph (130km/h) from early on Saturday morning.That is when Friday’s yellow warning will be temporarily upgraded to amber.Gusts between 60-70mph (100-115km/h) are likely inland before winds ease from the west through Saturday afternoon.The Met Office has also issued a red warning for wind for parts of Wales and the Bristol Channel area of England on Saturday.Red alerts have been issued by Met Éireann, the Republic of Ireland’s weather service, for the west coast of Ireland.The highest level of warning was issued for Mayo, Clare, Galway, Donegal, Leitrim, Wicklow and Sligo. The alerts are due to end early on Saturday morning.The second highest level of warning for wind, Status Orange is in place until 10:00 on Saturday, but a yellow warning for wind will remain in place until 15:00.ESB Networks in the Republic of Ireland is asking customers to prepare in the event of losing their electricity supply if their area is affected by Storm Darragh. This includes torches, spare batteries and having phones charged.About three million people in parts of Wales and south-west England were sent an emergency alert from the government.
Belfast City Council has said the closure of the Christmas market at city hall on Saturday would be “disappointing” but added that “the safety of our visitors and traders is of the utmost importance”.It plans to reopen on Sunday if the weather permits.One of the traders, Lisa Walsh, said it was “unfortunate because most of the traders” at the market “rely on the Saturday”.”That is really where they might make a wage for themselves,” she said.
“Yesterday was really really poor, so the general consensus in the market was that ‘sure it’ll be fine because Saturday will get us over the line’.”So, I think a lot of the traders are pretty upset.”