Shocking footage has shown the extent of Storm Debi’s effects as huge waves crash into the Cumbria shoreline.
Britain has been battered by 70mph winds and torrential downpours, prompting amber ‘danger to life’ warnings.
Northern Ireland, northwest Wales and northern England are among affected areas as Britain braces itself for even stronger winds.
The Met Office issued an amber weather warning for wind, active from 10am until 4pm earlier today.
Waves crash into the Cumbria shoreline
It covered parts of the North West, with coastal areas north of Liverpool up to Whitehaven posing dangers to life as a result of flying debris.
The footage, taken in Whitehaven, Cumbria, shows huge waves crashing into the coast with people seemingly opting to steer well clear of the area.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
- ‘Danger to life’: Red weather warning issued as Storm Debi poised to lash Britain and Ireland
- UK weather warning: Britain faces 10-day-deluge as jet stream sends relentless torrential rain
- UK weather warnings: TWO storms crash into Britain with hurricane force winds as Atlantic jet stream sparks urgent alert
Water is seen flying over a lighthouse in a shocking moment as Storm Debi engulfs the seafront.
The Met Office has also issued a yellow weather warning for thunderstorms, active between 5am and 12pm tomorrow across the south of England, from London to Cornwall.
Met Office spokesman Stephen Dixon said: “There will be band of squally showers from 5am.
“We could see some sudden downpours within that band of thundery showers, with 15-20mm of rain in a relatively short period of time, gusty winds and thunder and lightning.”
And there is the potential for more wet and windy weather later in the week, Dixon said.
Storm Debi marks the earliest point in a storm season the letter D has been reached in the alphabet.
Storm seasons run from the start of September until the end of the following August.
The Met Office began naming storms in 2015.
Before 2023, the earliest month in which the letter D was reached was December, which happened in 2015 (Desmond), 2017 (Dylan) and 2018 (Deirdre).
The named storms in this year’s season so far are Agnes (September), Babet (October), Ciaran (November) and Debi.