A yellow alert for wind also came into force between 3am and 6am for Northern Ireland, while a second warning covering much of Britain came into effect three hours later and was set to last until 6pm, with the Met Office warning of “very strong winds” of up to 70mph.

High winds have caused disruption across Northern Ireland going into the weekend - with some roads closed by fallen trees and winds up to 70mph expected on Sunday.

AMBER warnings have been issued in some parts of the country, with 12-hours of non-stop rain and severe gales forecast for the coming days. This comes as the Met Office issued six severe alerts