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).

One person in Ireland died when a tree fell on his car, said police reports.

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.

Storm Eowyn leaves trail of destruction in Ireland, Britain

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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.

By Friday evening authorities in Scotland and Ireland had lifted the highest level of warning, but still asked people to stay vigilant.

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.

A red warning — the highest alert level — was in place for Ireland, Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland Image: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire/dpa/picture alliance

“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.

Where is Storm Eowyn coming from?

Storm Eowyn has its origins in the recent winter storm along the Gulf Coast of the United States, according to Jason Nicholls, lead international forecaster at the private weather company AccuWeather.

The storm is driven by the jet stream and fueled by energy from the upper levels of the atmosphere.

A rapid drop in air pressure is expected and could make Eowyn a bomb cyclone, which occurs when a storm rapidly intensifies in the span of 24 hours or less.

England had seen a similar “Great Storm” in October 1987, during which 18 people died.

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)