Storm Isha: Ipswich's Orwell Bridge is shut as winds up to 70mph set to batter the East
Wind warnings have been issued ahead of Storm Isha with people warned not to travel amid possible gusts of up to 70 mph along the coast.
An amber wind warning has been issued for parts of the East Midlands meaning gusts will frequently reach 50-60 mph.
A yellow wind warning has also been issued for Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, with some coastal areas seeing gusts potentially reaching up to 70 mph.
As a result the A14 Orwell Bridge in Suffolk has been shut, with delays expected in the surrounding area.
Rail, sea and air travellers are also set to face disruption, with closures, cancellations and delays expected across a number of services.
East Midlands Railway and Greater Anglia have both warned commuters to expect disruption.
"A speed restriction of 50mph will be in place and will mean that delays are more likely and therefore passengers really should check before they travel" said Dominic Rosse from Greater Anglia.
"Tomorrow morning, we're expecting there to be some disruption and so passengers should check before thy travel from the moment they wake up."
Forecasters are warning that damage to homes and buildings, falling trees, power cuts, flying debris, large waves and even some flooding in places should also be expected.
Met Office meteorologist Tom Morgan said: “There’s the potential for danger-to-life and damaging winds potentially leading to some power cuts in places, some large waves around coastal regions could bring some debris onto roads and trees could come down.”
He added: “We have a wind warning in place across the whole of the UK, it’s pretty unusual for the whole of the country to be under a blanket wind warning.”
Chief Supt Stuart Weaver from Essex Police said “Last time we had an amber weather warning in Essex, our Contact Management Centre received a large amount of calls.
“We have prepared for this, but we ask the public to only call 999 in an emergency and to consider which service your call requires,
“This consideration allows our officers to be free to attend emergencies, help vulnerable people and continue catching criminals.
So how did Isha form?
Some very cold air across the northeast coast of America has developed a very strong jetstream coming out of the northeast coast of America.
The jet is approximately 180-200 mph and Storm Isha travels very quickly eastwards across the Atlantic on Saturday.
Why is it called Storm Isha?
Storm Isha is the ninth named storm to hit the UK since the season began in September.
Each storm is named when it poses a risk to people and they are given names beginning with consecutive letters of the alphabet.
The record number of named storms in one year is when the Met Office began the practice in 2015/16, with Storm Katie being the 11th and final storm of the season.
If there are three more named storms between next week and August, this year will mark a new record.
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