Storm Lilian has brought travel disruption, flooding and power cuts as it battered parts of England, Wales and Scotland
Wind gusts topped 70mph, leaving thousands of homes without power and train services disrupted in north-east England
Tents at Leeds Festival were battered by the storm, and three stages have been closed for the day due to strong winds
Lilian is now on its way to Scandinavia, but more bad weather is expected in south-east England tomorrow where a yellow warning for rain has been issued
Charis Scott-Holm
Reporting from Hull
The Humber Bridge has been closed to high-sided vehicles and others vulnerable to strong winds such as caravans after recording average wind speeds of 55mph.
A lorry was filmed swaying heavily in the wind as it crossed the bridge over the Humber before the restrictions were brought in this morning.
More than 60,000 Northern Powergrid customers have been affected so far by "high levels of disruption" to power supplies, the electricity company says.
Northern Powergrid - which supplies electricity to north-east England, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire - says on its website, external that it's already managed to reconnect more than 27,000 affected customers.
“Our main priorities are to deal with emergency situations as quickly as possible, supporting our customers and ensure our people can work safely as soon as the conditions allow," said Louise Lowes, its director of customer service.
Image source, EPABritish Airways (BA) has cancelled 14 flights which were scheduled to take off from Heathrow Airport on Friday and delayed others in the wake of Storm Lilian.
The airport's website shows the cancellations include international flights to Italy, Switzerland and the US as well as domestic journeys to Scotland and Northern Ireland.
PA reports that a BA spokesman said: "Due to restrictions imposed by air traffic control as a result of adverse weather across the UK, we've made some minor adjustments to our schedule."
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As we've been telling you this morning, two stages at Leeds Festival have been closed today due to Storm Lilian.
This video shared with the BBC shows festival-goers holding down their tents as they are battered by the strong winds.
Organisers earlier urged people there to stay in their tents, or delay their travel to the event if they hadn't arrived yet.
About 1,000 homes in Lancashire and hundreds in Greater Manchester and Chesterfield are affected by power cuts, according to Electricity North West.
The firm says in a post on X, external that it's "continuing to assess the conditions" and estimates that the "restoration time" to the power cuts will be 18:30 BST.
"Repair works will begin as soon as it is safe to do so," it adds, urging people to stay clear of any damaged overhead lines.
As we've just reported, Storm Lilian is now on its way to Scandinavia, but even as the wind and rain move away from the UK and out into the North Sea, there's a sign of more bad weather to come.
The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for rain for parts of south-east England tomorrow morning.
It says people in the area can expect "spells of rain, heavy at times, likely to cause some travel disruption and perhaps flooding in a few places."
The weather warning will be in effect from 06:00 BST until 11:00 BST, stretching across an area from the Isle of Wight up to Ipswich, in Suffolk. It also covers parts of London.
Image source, ReutersDarren Bett
BBC weather presenter
Storm Lilian is now out in the North Sea and heading quickly into Scandinavia.
The earlier heavy rain has cleared. Winds are strongest in south-east Scotland and north-east England but the Met Office warning expires at 11am and after that the winds will be lighter.
Simon King
BBC weather presenter and meteorologist
Storm Lilian is more typical of an autumn storm, not something we usually see in August (though we did have two named storms last August as well – Antoni and Betty).
Lilian is a deep area of low pressure that formed quite rapidly on Thursday night.
In meteorology, low pressure systems are the ones that give us the wet and windy weather.
If pressure is particularly low, the winds around it will be stronger.
On a pressure chart that’s visualised by the white lines…the closer they are, the windier it is.
These areas of low pressure have been directed to us by a fast wind high in the atmosphere flowing across the Atlantic.
This wind – the jet stream – is also the thing that can either strengthen or weaken weather systems at the Earth’s surface.
Over the last few days, the jet stream has been particularly active bringing the remnants of ex-hurricane Ernesto to our shores as well as creating Storm Lilian.
Storm Lilian has brought high winds to the UK that have disrupted train and car journeys and affected planned festivals and markets.
Stalls at a food and drink festival in Bolton have been damaged by the strong winds
Fallen trees have been affecting train and car journeys across England and Wales today
Image source, Deneal SmithAn uprooted tree fell outside Bootham School in York
Image source, PAAnd for commuters, storm Lilian creates a different type of hair blowout
Leeds Festival organisers have announced a number of its stages won't be hosting performances today, due to the severe weather.
"We have definitely lost the BBC Radio 1 stage today, and there will be no performances on it. We have also lost the Aux stage today, and there will be no performances on it," organisers said in a post on the festival's X account., external
"We remain hopeful that everything else will continue as planned and that we will still have an amazing weekend."
The three-day festival is due to kick off today, but organisers add they "won't be opening the arena at 11am" but are aiming to open it as soon as possible.
Image source, TikTok/@kurtisleebakerA tent took flight at the festival earlier due to the windy conditions
In Wales, many holidaymakers at one of the UK's biggest campsites have left early due to poor weather.
Shell Island in Llanbedr, Gwynedd, had been exposed to strong winds which caused damage even before Storm Lilian hit.
The site said 70% of visitors had packed up and gone, which scuppered hopes for a bumper bank holiday weekend, according to director Richard Workman.
The Met Office issued a yellow weather warning for strong winds affecting parts of north Wales.
Thomas Copeland
Live reporter
The Environment Agency is warning that flooding is excepted in 22 locations today, from Chepstow on the River Wye to Seahouses on the Northumberland coastline.
The agency also have a further 58 alerts in place, in areas where they think that flooding is possible.
You can find out if your area is on the list here, external.
Image source, Environment AgencyTrain services across northern England are currently facing disruption caused by the strong winds, National Rail reports.
One train operator - Northern - has advised its passengers not to travel on many of its services across the north of England this morning.
Between Liverpool Lime Street and Wigan North Western all lines are currently closed, after damage to the overhead cables.
Meanwhile multiple incidents on the East Coast Main Line this morning mean trains are currently running at a reduced speed through Doncaster.
A full list of the disruption affecting rail services can be found on the National Rail website., external
Campers at Leeds Festival have been warned to secure their tents to stave off strong winds brought by Storm Lilian this morning.
A yellow weather warning is currently in place for the area, and Met Office forecaster Greg Dewhurst has warned gusts "of 50 to 60mph" could hit the area, with potential disruption to travel for those heading to the festival first thing.
Elsewhere Creamfields festival - in Daresbury, Cheshire - will be opening its gates later than expected due to "high wind conditions onsite".
In an update on their website a few minutes ago, organisers say winds "are already easing" and they "are fully prepared for the day ahead".
Footage posted on social media shows a number of tents that collapsed in the early hours of the morning.
Simon King
BBC weather presenter and meteorologist
It has been an unusually windy morning so far with the strongest winds around the coast of north Wales and north-west England.
We’ve also had windy conditions around the English Channel, particularly the exposed Needles on the Isle of Wight.
We’ll continue to see gusts approaching 50-60mph widely across northern England with some of the most exposed areas reaching 75mph for the rest of this morning.
The Met Office is warning of potential travel disruption, power cuts, and dangerous conditions near coastal areas.
It advises leaving extra time for your journeys today and taking extra care, adding that trees could fall down and cause travel delays.
National Rail is also urging people getting trains today to check their journey before they travel, adding that there could be delays and cancellations.
The Energy Networks Association (ENA), which represents energy networks in the UK and Ireland, says people should stay “well clear” if they see damaged power lines or lines brought down.
It says people should have a torch at home and if there’s a power cut, they should turn off appliances that “could be hazardous if left unattended”, such as cookers and stoves.
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) warns people , externalto stay back from stormy seas and cliff edges, and to check the weather forecast and tide times.
There’s currently one Met Office weather warning in place at the moment - and that’s a yellow warning for wind across northern England, southern Scotland and Wales, in place until 11:00 this morning.
Gusts could potentially reach 80mph, the Met Office says, with the strong winds potentially causing power cuts and damage to buildings.
A separate yellow warning for rain - covering parts of Aberdeenshire and Angus in eastern Scotland, as well as the area near the south-western Scottish border - was in place until 09:00, but has since expired.
It warned there was a potential for some localised flooding.
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage as Storm Lilian batters parts of the UK ahead of the Bank Holiday weekend.
A Met Office yellow warning for winds in excess of 75mph is in place across parts of northern England, southern Scotland and Wales until 11:00 BST.
Lilian, the twelfth named storm of the season, is expected to bring travel disruption, flooding and power cuts this morning.
The Met Office says the storm should pass quite quickly, with the strongest winds forming initially across "parts of north Wales and into the Liverpool, Blackpool area".
The storm is then likely to move over the Pennines and into eastern and north-east England.
We'll be bringing you live updates on storm's progress and any disruption it causes, so stay with us.
