Flood warnings remain as Storm Ashley lashes Britain and Ireland

More than 100 flood warnings remained in place across the UK on Monday after Storm Ashley made its presence felt.

A yellow weather alert for wind, issued by the Met Office, was in place until 9am on Monday morning across the north and east of Scotland and north-east England.

The notice warned travellers to brace for potential power cuts and longer journey times.

The first named storm of the season also forced the postponement of several sporting fixtures.

The Environment Agency had 45 flood warnings, where flooding is expected, in place across England, including along the south Cornwall coast and large parts of the River Severn.

A further 96 places were kept on high alert overnight with possible flooding.

In Scotland, the Scottish Environment Flood Agency had 47 flood warnings in place with eight issued by Natural Resources Wales.

Several roads in the north of England, including the A66 between County Durham and the M6 at Cumbria were reopened early on Monday morning after being closed due to strong winds

Tens of thousands of homes remained without power on Sunday night after Storm Ashley swept across the island of Ireland.

Dublin and the Irish west coast also experienced significant outages on Sunday night.

The number without power had been 53,000 earlier in the day.

The hazardous conditions saw dozens of flights cancelled on Sunday, including at airports in Dublin and Belfast.

The Met Office said winds will ease slightly as Storm Ashley moves north-east on Monday, with a mix of scattered showers and sunny spells expected in its wake.

More frequent rain may be expected in the south-east.

The weather is likely to turn “unsettled” later in the week, bringing possible heavy rain and strong winds once more.

On Friday, operator P&O Ferries announced its sailings between Larne in Northern Ireland and Cairnryan in Scotland’s south-west were to be cancelled on Sunday.

Further south, the Met Office issued a yellow warning for the south-west of England and South Wales until midday on Sunday with a threat of disruption to travel with flooding and possible interruptions to power supplies.