Eurostar trains from London have been cancelled as more extreme weather in the wake of Storm Gerrit disrupts travel plans.
No high-speed services are expected to run between Ebbsfleet International, in Kent, and London St Pancras International today because a tunnel under the Thames is flooded.
UK weather: The latest Sky News forecast
Eurostar, which runs services from London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, said services from the capital have been cancelled “until the end of the day” and apologised to customers for the impact to their travel plans.
The flooding, in tunnels near Ebbsfleet International, is also disrupting Southeastern Railway trains and the operator’s managing director Steve White said there is “no timescale” for when the problem will be fixed.
Simon Calder, travel editor for The Independent, told Sky News thousands of passengers are arriving at St Pancras and “finding out they are going nowhere”.
“Many desperate people are paying hundreds of pounds for flights, others are planning to get the bus,” he said.
Newlyweds Christopher and Nicole Carrera had planned to spend New Year’s Eve at Disneyland Paris but their plans have been thrown into chaos by the cancellations.
Mrs Carrera, from New York, said: “We’ve been in London since Wednesday and we wanted to leave today because we were actually supposed to go to Disney Paris tomorrow for New Year’s Eve.
“So obviously those plans our ruined because now we won’t get into Paris tomorrow until about 6pm. So we’re just going to walk around the city (Paris) tomorrow when we get there and finally get to our hotel. It’s just one of those things.”
There was also major disruption to Thameslink services through London and across the South East due to “a shortage of train crew” which will continue into Sunday, the operator said.
Speed restrictions are in place on the West Highland Lines until 9am on Sunday due to the forecast, Network Rail Scotland said.
More weather warnings issued
Gusts of up to 75mph could hit parts of the south of England and Wales on Saturday, the Met Office warned, while northern Scotland could see “significant snow”.
A yellow weather alert for wind has been issued for parts of the South East, South West, East Anglia and Wales from 11am on Saturday until 3am on New Year’s Eve.
A separate yellow warning for rain has been issued across part of Wales between 10am and 6pm on Saturday.
In Scotland, a yellow weather warning is in place for much of the country for rain and snow until midnight.
The Environment Agency has issued more than 30 flood warnings, meaning flooding is expected, and almost 100 flood alerts, meaning flooding is possible, in England.
‘Difficult day to travel’
Meteorologist Craig Snell said it will be a “difficult day to travel”.
“It’s going to be another unsettled day. We’ve got heavy rain moving across the north west of the country, with snow falling in higher areas of Scotland,” he said.
“Rain will move across the rest of the UK tonight.
“We’re likely to see gusts of 50mph in Wales and southern England, with the most exposed areas getting wind speeds of 65-75mph.
“There could be some road closures if branches come off trees.”
Storm Gerrit
It comes after much of the UK was impacted by Storm Gerrit.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said it had restored power to almost 48,000 homes since the storm hit.
In Wales, 36,000 properties have also contended with outages after lightning struck in Ceredigion.
And in Greater Manchester, residents in Stalybridge, Tameside, and Carrbrook are still recovering from a freak tornado that toppled trees and damaged homes.
The whirlwind was thought to have been caused by a supercell thunderstorm.