1 of 2 | People cross Millennium Bridge as Storm Goretti brings strong gusts and rain to London Friday. Met Office yellow and amber warnings for ice, snow and wind remain in effect across much of Britain after Storm Goretti, the first named storm of the year, brought heavy snowfall and strong winds. Photo by Tolga Akmen/EPA
Train routes were disrupted and schools were closed Friday throughout Britain due to snow, ice and winds from winter storm Goretti.
In Wales, 6.2 inches of snow fell at Lake Vyrnwy in Powys overnight, the BBC reported. Hundreds of homes lost power.
Police told motorists to avoid mountain roads in Rhondda Cynon Taf, a county north of Cardiff. There were several vehicles broken down on the roads.
Some trains were canceled through Friday, and the rail services told people to check their train’s status before arriving.
Wendy Francis-Scott from Llanfyllin in Powys, northern Wales, told the BBC the village was not hit “as bad as we thought.”
“We’ve got all the hills and around us and the worst of the weather, on the whole, tends to drift over the top — a little bit like a saucer over a teacup,” she said.
Many local authorities have activated or extended the Severe Weather Emergency Protocol, which offers emergency shelter to unhoused people at risk for harm or death, The Guardian reported.
In Manchester, England, two people died while sleeping outdoors. Michael Heaton, 26, and Anthony Horn, 47, died in late December.
“Rough sleeping [outdoors] is extremely dangerous all year round, but a night spent in freezing temperatures or in the most extreme weather can be deadly,” Francesca Albanese, executive director of policy and social change at Crisis, told The Guardian. “It’s vital that people who would otherwise be sleeping on the streets are helped into safe, emergency accommodation.”
Local authorities aren’t required to activate SWEP, but it’s a compassionate move in cold or extreme weather.
In Scotland, rising temperatures threaten to bring floods, said David Morgan, flood duty manager at the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency.
Steve Willington, chief forecaster at the Met Office, said Saturday will be “largely dry,” then more snow was possible Sunday. Most of Scotland will have a yellow warning for snow and ice from 2 a.m. to 3 p.m. GMT Sunday.
Up to 2 inches of accumulation is possible at low levels, and up to 8 inches on higher ground, he said. “With much of this falling in areas that have already seen severe snowfall, ongoing disruption is likely,” Willington said. Central and southern England will mostly get rain.
Transport for Wales said Friday evening many routes had reopened, but that some lines were still closed and some services could be delayed, amended or cancelled at short notice. Cross Country Trains said there was no service between Cardiff and Birmingham.
