Weather warnings reduced as Storm Benjamin moves east

Gale-force winds batter Plobannalec-Lesconil port, western France, on Wednesday

Rain and wind warnings have been reduced for the UK as Storm Benjamin has cleared away to the east.

The storm, named by the French weather service Météo France, moved through the English Channel earlier on Thursday morning, bringing the most violent winds to the northern coast of France with gusts up to 100mph.

But, as it continues to clear away to the east, the impact of the storm for the UK is reducing.

While there were initially four Met Office yellow weather warnings covering large swathes of England and Wales, these have been whittled down to two - for rain in Norfolk and Suffolk valid to 18:00 BST and wind across eastern England until 15:00 BST.

However, as the rain continues across Norfolk and Suffolk, there is still a low chance of some localised flooding.

And while the strongest winds remain offshore in the North Sea and toward Belgium and the Netherlands, it will remain quite gusty across eastern England.

Gusts of 40-50mph will still be felt, potentially up to 55mph on coastal regions so a yellow wind warning remains here until 15:00 BST.

These wind speeds still have the potential to bring some travel disruption, especially to ferry routes.

The weather caused some earlier disruption. More than 2,000 homes were left without power in Suffolk, according to UK Power Networks.

Further south, National Rail said a tree on the railway at Carpenders Park, Hertfordshire, was blocking the line for London overground services between Watford Junction and London Euston.

South-east England has seen the wettest weather with almost 50mm (2in) of rain falling in parts of Kent.

More severe rain and winds are set to batter western Europe, including France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

The Europa League has confirmed two matches scheduled for Thursday have had their kick-off times brought forward.

Dutch side Feyenoord will play Greece's Panathinaikos in Rotterdam two hours and 15 minutes earlier than scheduled at 16:30 local time (15:30 BST), it said.

Uefa also announced Thursday's Conference League match between Dutch side AZ Alkmaar and ŠK Slovan Bratislava had been brought forward from 21:00 to 18:45 local time.

Why is this a named storm?

The storm was not expected to be severe enough for the Met Office to name this weather system.

However, large parts of northern and western France were forecast to bear the brunt of the severe weather, prompting Météo France - the equivalent of the Met Office - to name this Storm Benjamin, warning of some damage and travel disruption.

Orange warnings - the next stage up from a yellow - were issued for seven areas along the Atlantic coast and English Channel.

Once a meteorological agency takes the decision to name a storm, there is agreement that all nations use the same name to allow consistency and clearer communication of the impacts.

Benjamin will not replace Bram in the list of UK's named storms.