Power outages as West Yorkshire hit by Storm Pia
Hundreds of properties are without electricity, according to Northern Powergrid
Hundreds of properties across West Yorkshire are without power, as Storm Pia arrives in the UK.
The county has been battered by winds of up to 55mph, with Northern Powergrid saying 40,000 households had suffered disruption in Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire and the North East.
Louise Lowes, director of customer services, said: "We are mobilising our customer support vehicles immediately to ensure we have welfare arrangements in place and we are keeping local agency partners informed of the communities worst affected by Storm Pia.
"We encourage anyone who knows of neighbours or relatives who may be in a vulnerable position to call us on 105 so we can ensure they get the additional support they need."
"We thank our customers for their patience. We are doing all we can to provide updates about when we will be able to get their power safely back on."
Ms Lowes said: "Our main priorities are to deal with emergency situations as quickly as possible, support our customers and ensure our people can work safely as soon as the conditions allow."
The Met Office issued a yellow warning for wind, stretching north from Birmingham to the Shetland Islands and including Northern Ireland, remaining in place until 3pm on Thursday.
That had been brought forward from 9pm as the Met Office said the worst of the wind was expected to be in the morning, with conditions slowly easing.
The yellow warning means journeys could be disrupted, there was the potential for power cuts and coastal routes could be affected by waves or spray.
People on social media reported their sleep had been disturbed by Storm Pia, not officially named by the Met Office, but given named status by the Danish authorities where it was expected to have an even greater impact than in the UK.
The roof came off a section of a block of flats in Haslam Crescent, Sheffield, the city council said on X.
Oli Claydon, a Met Office spokesman, said while the winds will ease through the day, it will remain breezy.