Storm Isha travel disruption in Birmingham: EasyJet flight diverted to Birmingham Airport, train delays & more

The Met Office has extended weather warnings to include almost all of the UK as Storm Isha continues to batter Birmingham and the UK on Monday (January 22).

A yellow wind warning remains in place for Birmingham, the wider region as well much of the north of England, north Wales and Scotland on Monday. The Yellow Weather Warning in Birmingham is in place until midnight tonight and the whole of the UK. It continues for the north of England on Tuesday and Wednesday - but not Birmingham.

On the roads

The driver of a Mercedes lost control of his car on the M6 near Perry Barr during the early hours of Monday morning. The Central Motorway Police Group posted a photo of the car on Twitter, as seen below, after the driver had lost control and crashed into a barrier due to driving 'too fast' in the wet and windy conditions. The driver suffered minor injuries in the crash.

A huge tree was also blown over on a residential street in Selly Oak on Sunday (January 21) as wind gusts reached over 50mph. A picture showed the tree spread out across the street in the neighbourhood which is popular with University of Birmingham students.

The colossal tree trunk was pictured narrowly missing a blue car while its bare winter branches covered the road with houses either side. Landline phones in the area also went down during the Met Office Weather Warning issued for Birmingham on Sunday evening (January 21).

National Express West Midlands bus services in the region have also largely been unaffected by the storm, with no cancellations caused by the weather so far.

At Birmingham Airport

The windy weather has caused severe travel disruption over the last 24 hours. An EasyJet flight which was headed to Bristol Airport had to be diverted to Birmingham Airport due to the weather. One of the flight's passengers, Frank Meehan, posted on Twitter that the pilot tried to land the plane at Gatwick twice but the attempts had to be aborted due to the weather.

He wrote: "Never has a plane of 200 people been so happy to see Birmingham. That was an incredible flight with EasyJet, Storm Isha meant the captain aborted twice from Gatwick. I’ve never seen winds like that. Diverted to Birmingham which looks like an oasis. Pilot and crew are so amazing."

A Ryanair flight from Birmingham Airport to Dublin was also cancelled on Sunday night due to the conditions. All services between Birmingham New Street and London Euston were also cancelled on Sunday although the services were running as noral as of Monday morning.

On the trains

Early on Monday morning, services on the railway between Shrewsbury and Birmingham were subject to delay as engineers inspected the track for things like fallen trees. No specific incidents were reported by Network Rail, but the weather warnings in place meant there was a high chance of things like fallen trees and debris on the tracks.

A statement from the company and National Rail, read: "Storm Isha has brought strong winds and heavy rain across England, Scotland and Wales. Most lines across England and Wales are now open and trains are able to run.

"A number of previously suspended routes in Scotland have been checked and are also now open, with checking continuing on those routes that remain closed. Please check your journey before you travel."

Although Avanti West Coast services are also running smoothly on Monday, the company has also advised that you check your journey online, here.