Hundreds of thousands of people were left without electricity on Friday in Ireland, which is an extremely large number for this small country, while a strong storm was moving across the island, bringing record winds and disrupting travel.

A storm is expected, called Eowyn, to bring winds during Friday, according to the Irish meteorological service. Prognostics also said that in northern Ireland, southern Scotland and northern and western areas of England and Wales, strong winds were blowing. The British National Meteorological Service issued a red warning, the highest warning degree indicating dangerous time, for northern Ireland and parts of Scotland.

The hills and coasts along the Irish sea, as well as southwestern Scotland, could experience hitting up to 100 mph, the service said. At 5 in the morning, a 114 mph wind was recorded in Western Ireland in Mace Head, Galway County, which was knocked down by the 1945 Irish record.

The ESB Networks, a Irish state -owned power company, said about 715,000 of her customers were without electricity on Friday morning, which is almost a third of the electricity company about HRK 2.4 million Total customers.

Eowyn will also bring rain showers and longer rainy periods across northern Ireland, according to Irish forecasters. And there was the possibility of hail and snow in the hills of Scotland, according to forecasters. The British Meteorological Office warned of “very dangerous conditions with widespread disorders and significant blows.”

Strong winds disrupted travel through Ireland, Scotland and North England. The Irish National Transport Administration suspended public transport on Friday. Northern Rail, an English railway company, invited clients to avoid traveling on Friday and Saturday.

Hundreds of flights were grounded on Friday at airports across Ireland and Britain. Belfast International Airport, in Northern Ireland, urged passengers to stay at home on Friday and said there were occasional current disappearances. Passengers should check the status of their flights with their airlines, the airport advises.

Strong Slavic current – fast air flow at large heights that drives global weather from the west to the east (and can also accelerate the plane trips) – Eowyn helped to gain strength. The jet current, usually from 190 to 220 mph, has increased to 260 mph this week, strengthened by a sharp temperature contrast created by an Arctic explosion that has affected the United States in recent days and warm humid air in the Mexican Bay.

The same time -time system immersed in most of the United States cold conditions this weekbringing low temperatures unprecedented for decades and life -threatening wind.

The last time Britain experienced a storm of this strength in early December with Storm DarRag, which was also influenced by a strong nozzle. The wind speed for that storm reached 93 mph in Wales.

For Ireland is Eowyn The strongest storm since 2017when one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the northeast Atlantic has killed at least three people.

Eowyn is expected to break down to the Norwegian Sea on Saturday, allowing a briefly suppression of dry and calmer conditions, but it is estimated that another storm system will bring similar dangers to Britain on Sunday and Monday.

Nasaneen Ghaffar contributed to reporting.