An orange weather warning has been issued for parts of Ireland as Hurricane Lorenzo sweeps towards the UK.
A separate yellow warning has been issued for Cornwall, Devon and coastal areas of southwest Wales, says Sky News.
The 500-mile-wide storm is expected to bring gales of up to 90mph, disrupting travel, damaging properties and causing major power outages. Met Office forecaster Steven Keates told The Sun: “Lorenzo is a real beast of a storm.”
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Andy Page, chief meteorologist with the Met office, added: “The strongest winds are expected in western Ireland, with a risk of coastal gales developing in Northern Ireland on Thursday and south Wales and southwest England on Friday.
“Storm Lorenzo will also bring a spell of heavy rain to much of the UK mainly during Thursday night and the first half of Friday.”
Hurricane Lorenzo was the most powerful ever recorded in the far-east Atlantic, says the BBC. And although it is expected to weaken to storm status before hitting the British Isles, Lorenzo is still expected to cause chaos.
The relatively slow-moving storm is likely to cause travel disruption, including delays to road, rail, air and ferry transport on Friday.
The storm is also whipping up huge swells as it tracks towards the UK and Ireland, with waves of up to 18ft and flooding expected, warns The Mirror.
Met Office figures show that average UK rainfall in September was 27% above the usual level - 122.4mm (12.24cm) of rain fell, compared to an average of 96.4mm (9.64cm) for that month.
