Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Liveupdated

Storm Barra news – news: UK hit by 80mph gales as pensioner found dead in flooded river

Follow updates live

Thomas Kingsley
Thursday 09 December 2021 04:04 EST
Comments
Storm Barra: Roof ripped off school and major travel disruption in Wales

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

An 80-year-old woman is believed to have been killed in 80 mph winds of Storm Barra.

Venetia Smith, 80, is believed to have fallen from a bridge after she went missing her home in Blandford, Dorset, on Tuesday morning.

Her body was found in a river near Langdon Road at about 3pm.

Chief Inspector Matt Baxter, of Dorset Police, said: “Our thoughts remain with Venetia’s family and friends at this very difficult time.”

Around 1,000 properties remain without power after Storm Barra swept across the country.The latest power cuts come just days after the final homes were reconnected following Storm Arwen, which had caused "catastrophic damage" to electricity networks mainly in the north east of Scotland, affecting 135,000 properties.

The Met Office issued yellow weather warnings as Storm Barra brought high winds, heavy rain and snow on Tuesday.

Welcome

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s coverage of Storm Barra affecting large parts of the UK. We bring you the latest updates from day two of this weather event.

Thomas Kingsley8 December 2021 08:04

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in