More than 35,000 homes in Northern Ireland remained without power on Saturday after the unseasonal blizzards sweeping across Britain snapped power lines.
The country should be marking the start of spring but Northern Ireland bore the brunt of the cold snap, caused by an area of low pressure moving eastwards off the Atlantic Ocean.
Northern Ireland’s World Cup qualifier against Russia rescheduled from Friday for a Saturday afternoon kick-off was called off due to bad weather rendering the pitch at Windsor Park unplayable, the Irish FA confirmed.
The worst affected areas are around the counties of Ballyclare, County Antrim, and Bangor, County Down, however many properties across Northern Ireland are thought to still be affected.
Engineers worked through the night to restore electricity to around 5000 homes overnight but six foot drifts of snow left emergency crews struggling to get through to others without power, Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) said.
Weather warnings remain in place throughout Britain on Saturday as the country endures continuing winter storms, which have already claimed the life of one woman in Cornwall after torrential rain triggered a landslide that smashed through an apartment block in the town of Looe.
Snow, rain, high winds and freezing temperatures are expected to batter Britain over the next four days causing more disruption to transport and sparking travel safety concerns, the Met Office said.
More than two inches of snow is expected to cover parts of England, Scotland and Wales from London northwards over the weekend, with heavy showers and sleet hitting the south-east.
In the northwest of the country, 70 stranded drivers stayed overnight at a local school in Cumbria, which police opened as a reception centre for those unable to return home. Others who were stuck in their cars slept in local hotels.
The southwest is expected to be spared the heavy downpours and flash flooding, however, it suffered on Friday but 89 flood risk alerts remain in place.
Meanwhile a number of domestic sports events have been postponed due to severe weather including Sheffield United’s clash with Brentford and Shrewsbury’s meeting with Oldham was postponed. In South Yorkshire, the horseracing at Doncaster was abandoned for the same reason.
Forecaster John Lee of MeteoGroup warned this month could be Britain’s coldest March in 50 years, dashing any hopes of spring. He said the average temperature expected for central England at this time of year is 6C (42.8F), but so far this month the average is 2.2 degrees below that – at 3.8C (38.8F).
N. Ireland bears brunt of unseasonal blizzards
