With the weather set to stay inclement on Sunday in the UK, there are concerns that many rural communities, particularly in the north of England, could be cut off.
The National Grid, which oversees the country’s electricity network, said it had been working to restore power after outages across the country. The company’s live map shows power cuts in Birmingham in central England, Bristol in the west and Cardiff in Wales.
Many sporting events have already been postponed, though the heavyweight Premier League fixture between rivals Liverpool and Manchester United is on, following an inspection at Liverpool’s home ground of Anfield and of local conditions.
Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport and Manchester Airport had to close runways, but both appeared poised to reopen them by late Sunday morning. Leeds Bradford Airport, however, said it had closed its runway on Sunday morning.
In Europe, Heavy snowfall has affected air travel in the United Kingdom and Germany. A number of airports in the UK closed their runways yesterday due to heavy snow and ice. Many areas of UK were under snow and ice warnings, including most of Northern Island, the majority of Scotland and a large part of central and northern England. A yellow rain warning has been issued for almost all of Wales.
Several airports including Manchester Airport, Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport, and Birmingham Airports were temporarily shut down yesterday following the adverse weather conditions. Meanwhile, the Frankfurt Airport in Germany cancelled 120 of its 1,090 planned takeoffs and landings yesterday due to clearance work on runways and reduced visibility.
Restrictions were imposed on flight operations at Munich Airport, where only one runway was open. Germany’s weather service has issued black ice warnings for people, advising them to stay home where possible.
