The passage of Storm Isha left one person dead in Scotland, an octogenarian whose car crashed into a fallen tree, while tens of thousands of homes in Ireland and the UK lost power.
Scottish police appealed for witnesses on Monday after an 84-year-old driver died in a collision with a fallen tree near Edinburgh on Sunday evening.
In Ireland, more than 235,000 homes and businesses were without power on Monday morning, particularly in the northwest, according to grid operator ESB, quoted by Irish media outlet RTE.
A network manager, Brian Tapley, told RTE that power restoration should occur during the day but could take several days for some customers.
According to RTE, around 150 flights – or 25% of traffic – were canceled at Dublin Airport on Sunday, but traffic was able to resume on Monday morning.
In Northern Ireland, 45,000 customers are without power, according to the network manager.
Trees with impressive twisting branches on the Dark Hedges road, made famous by the series “Games of Thrones”, were also damaged and three of them were toppled by the storm, a construction manager said.
Across Great Britain, more than 30,000 customers are without power, especially in the north, said Lawrence Slade, director general of the Energy Network association, on the BBC on Monday morning.
“One of the worrying aspects of this storm is that it has affected almost the entire country,” causing difficulties in deploying technicians across the UK to carry out the work, he said.
A red alert for strong winds was issued overnight in Scotland, where trains were not running on Monday morning due to trees falling on the tracks and flooding. Traffic is expected to resume around midday.
“Hundreds of technicians are already outside armed with chainsaws,” said a spokesman for Network Rail.
Dozens of schools were also closed in Scotland.
According to the British Met Office, wind speeds of up to 160 km/h were recorded in northeast England.
Isha is the ninth named storm since September.
Following Isha, Storm Jocelyn is expected to bring rain and strong winds to Ireland and the UK on Tuesday and Wednesday.