Culture

A Violent Storm Is Doing Some Crazy Things in the UK

Storm Clodagh is Battering Parts of the UK with 70 mph winds. Severe weather warnings have been put into effect by the country's Environment Agency. 

by Sam Blum
debs-eye /Flickr Creative Commons

In the United Kingdom, it isn’t necessarily common for enormous cruise ships to get jostled around in the wind, but that’s exactly what Storm Clodagh did on Sunday afternoon, as it brought gales of up to 70 mph and torrential downpours across Scotland and much of northern England.

Footage uploaded to Youtube Sunday shows a massive ferry making unnatural movements near a dock, as frothy waves encircle its hull:

Emergency warnings have been issued for 13 different regions in the UK, spanning from the northern reaches of the Scottish highlands, to Wales, to South West England.

When it comes to catastrophic rainfall, Storm Clodagh doesn’t seem to be issuing anything all that formidable, however. UK authorities say that 30-40mm (about 1.6 inches) of rain is expected to fall across Northern England by Wednesday, which is no deluge, but that hasn’t stopped the wind from doing some strange things across the country.

In Manchester, video was captured of the city’s tallest building, Beetham Tower, emitting a high-pitched humming noise, as wind reverberated throughout its many glass windows.

Turn your volume up:

It should come as no surprise that air travel throughout the country was also affected. Footage of a British Airways flight attempting to land in West Yorkshire shows a plane stunted by 60 mph winds. The plane had to divert its course and attempt the landing a second time.

West Yorkshire in particular has been heavily affected, with many of its residential streets teeming with fallen branches.

Coastline was also battered, and the boardwalk at West Kirby was drenched Sunday afternoon.

The UK’s Environment Agency expects things to calm down by Wednesday, when cloudy, dreary weather — minus the gale-force winds — assumes its standard place in Britain.

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