strong winds cause hundreds of flights to be canceled just before Christmas

Around a hundred flights were canceled on Sunday, December 22, in the United Kingdom, due to the violent winds sweeping the country, disrupting transport during the very busy weekend before Christmas, London's Heathrow Airport announced.

“Due to strong winds and airspace restrictions, a small number of flights were canceled today [dimanche] »estimated at around a hundred, said London airport, the first in Europe in terms of number of passengers. On Saturday, a few flights had already been canceled at Heathrow, mainly affecting British Airways customers.

The British shipping company P&O Ferries, for its part, announced that all journeys on its route between Larne (Northern Ireland) and Cairnryan (southern Scotland) were canceled at least until 8 p.m. (local time, 9 p.m. Paris), Sunday.

In addition, roads have had to be closed and trains canceled, while others have been running at limited speed since Saturday, causing significant delays during this extremely busy weekend, during which millions of Britons plan to travel.

The British weather agency (Met Office) announced that yellow alerts for strong winds would remain in force until 9 p.m. (local time, 10 p.m. in Paris) on Sunday, with gusts of up to 125 kilometers per hour. However, the wind should drop again during the night from Sunday to Monday.