Two red warnings were in force earlier on Friday in Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland.

Red is the most serious weather warning the Met Office can issue, meaning dangerous weather is expected and people are urged to take action to keep themselves and others safe.

There are also yellow warnings for wind, rain, snow and ice across the UK over the next few days.

Northern Ireland is in "the eye of the storm" with a real threat to life and property, First Minister Michelle O'Neill said.

The storm brought the strongest wind gusts in 27 years to Northern Ireland.

There are more than 280,000 properties without power in Northern Ireland - and the number is expected to rise, NIE Networks said.

Scotland's First Minister John Swinney called the storm an "exceptional weather event" and said a "high level of vigilance" is still required.

More than 100,000 homes and businesses are without power across central and southern Scotland - and a further 5,000 in Wales, according to SP Energy Networks.

Thousands of homes were also without power in England across Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear and Cumbria. Electricity North West said it could take until Saturday evening to get power back in Cumbria.

There has been severe disruption at airports, with some 1,124 flights - one out of five - cancelled, affecting around 150,000 passengers, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium said.

Dublin, Edinburgh, Heathrow and Glasgow were the worst affected airports, it added.

A Ryanair flight that left Stansted Airport in Essex for Edinburgh reached the skies above the Scottish capital - but was unable to land and flew back to Stansted.

Bus and train services have been suspended in Northern Ireland, while supermarket chain Tesco said all its stores are closed and home deliveries also cancelled.

Glasgow and Edinburgh have closed all of their schools. There are around 30 schools shut across Northumberland, seven in Cumberland, and 50 in Wales.

Ferry operators also had to cancel numerous crossings.

In the Republic of Ireland, a gust of 114mph (183km/h) was recorded at Mace Head in County Galway. This makes it the strongest recorded gust of wind in Ireland.

The UK's top wind gust speed of 100mph was recorded at Drumalbin in South Lanarkshire in Scotland.