Parts of Ireland and Northern Ireland are grappling with the devastating impact of Storm Eowyn, which hit early Friday with wind speeds exceeding 180 kilometers per hour (112 miles per hour).

The storm has forced public transport to come to a standstill, closing schools and roads. Hundreds of flights were canceled at airports in the cities of Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

ESB Networks said there had been “unprecedented” damage to its network, leading to more than 700,000 homes and businesses in Ireland and almost 100,000 in Northern Ireland being left without power.

An ESB spokesman said it would take at least a week to restore power to some customers.

According to Met Eireann, the meteorological office in Ireland, record-breaking wind gusts of 183 kilometers (114 miles) per hour were recorded early in the morning near the Galway coast in the west. The previous record, of 182 kilometers per hour, was recorded in 1945, it said.

Red warning issued

Met Eireann issued a rare nationwide red warning for wind across the country, citing “a danger to life.” It warned of “extremely dangerous traveling conditions” and the prospect of coastal flooding.

The UK Met Office also issued a warning for Scotland and UK-governed Northern Ireland, saying the storm was likely to damage buildings, uproot trees and cause power cuts. Some 4.5 million people in at-risk areas received telephone alerts.

“We have to be clear. People should not travel,” said Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney.

Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill warned there was a “genuine threat to life and property,” saying the region was currently “in the eye of the storm.”

“Please just stay at home if you can,” she said.

The Northern Ireland police called Storm Eowyn an “exceptional weather event” likely to bring the strongest winds seen since 1998.

Climate change makes storms more severe

Meanwhile, scientists said the rapid intensification of Storm Eowyn, barreling in from the Atlantic Ocean, may possibly be linked to climate change.

They said while it is difficult to determine the exact impact of climate change on a particular storm, all storms now occur in an atmosphere that is warming rapidly due to the release of carbon emissions driven by the continued burning of fossil fuels.

Suzanne Gray, professor of meteorology at the University of Reading, said studies have shown that “winter storms may become more frequent and clustered in the future, such that several storms occur one after the other.”

ss,dh/nm (AP, dpa, AFP, Reuters)