LONDON – A storm that slammed into the UK this week brought damaging winds, flooding rains, impactful snow, and even a rare tornado in England Wednesday that left more than 100 homes damaged in Manchester.
The UK Met Office named the system Storm Gerrit – their seventh named storm of the season – and issued several weather warnings for strong winds, intense rain and winter weather.
Winds topped out at 86 mph in northern Scotland and 83 mph in northwestern England, where more than 3 inches of rain were recorded, according to the Met Office. Wind gusts reached 35-40 mph at London’s Heathrow Airport, again causing some harrowing landings that were caught on video just days after similar scenes played out at Manchester’s airport during Storm Pia.
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Storm Gerrit brought flooding and wintry conditions to Scotland, where thousands are still without power more than 24 hours after the worst of the storm passed, reports the BBC. Flooding closed the Bowling Station train stop and blocked roads in Dumbarton, Scotland.
The storm also caused travel disruptions for those in south England as pilots coming in for landing at London’s Heathrow faced off against powerful winds. Video from plane-spotting websites Big Jet TV and GoAirplane show some of the belly-turning landings at Heathrow on Wednesday as pilots attempted to land in near 40 mph wind gusts, causing some to abort their landing attempts.
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Big Jet TV commentator Jerry Dyer was stunned when an American Airlines pilot stuck the landing in the video at the top of this story. The jet was arriving from Los Angeles in strong crosswinds from Storm Gerrit.
“Oh my god, mate!” Dyer yelled as the plane bounced down on the runway. “How we did not go around I just have no idea.”
The video completion below from GoAirplane shows multiple pilots making bunny-hop landings or aborting altogether and coming around again.
Last week, pilots faced similar harrowing landing conditions in Manchester with Storm Pia.
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On Wednesday around 11:45 p.m., a tornado caused damage to the communities of Stalybridge and Tameside, according to the Greater Manchester Police Department.
Police declared the storm damage a “major incident” because of the severity of the damage. Despite the damage, no injuries have been reported but Greater Manchester Police Chief Superintendent Mark Dexter said the tornado left many residents temporarily homeless.
Photos show extensive damage to trees and property in Stalybridge, including a home with the roof ripped off.
Met Office meteorologists said Storm Gerrit has cleared the UK, but strong winds and heavy rain are forecast for the weekend.