Storm Pia in Birmingham: Plane struggles to land at airport, cancelled trains, fallen trees & more

Storm Pia arrived in the UK on Thursday (December 21) with strong winds causing travel disruption across the West Midlands.

The Met Office issued a yellow weather warning for wind from midnight to 9pm on Thursday in parts of Northern England and Scotland, and although not covered by the weather warning - Birmingham and the wider region has also been affected.

Footage on social media, which you can view below, shows a plane at Birmingham Airport struggling to land due to the wind gusts before landing safely on the runway. An Aer Lingus plane struggled to land due to the 50mph gales. The plane was diverted from Leeds Bradford to the Midland airport due to even stronger winds in the north. No delays were reported due to the weather at Birmingham Airport.

A number of train services in the West Midlands were delayed or cancelled on Thursday as trees fell onto the tracks due to strong wind gusts.

No trains will run between Birmingham New Street and Lichfield City for the rest of Thursday after a tree fell onto the track at Wylde Green Station in Sutton Coldfield. Work is ongoing to clear the tracks.

And services were also suspended between Aston and Lichfield and Tyseley and Stratford due to trees on the line this afternoon, but they have now been removed and all lines reopened. Fallen trees also caused travel disruption in Northfield.

West Midlands Fire Service attended a property on Elmbank Road, Walsall, where a tree had come down at a property and fallen onto a car, as the photos from the Express and Star show below.

Fortunately no one was hurt in the incident. Uwais Riaz, the owner of the vehicle, said he had received a call from his wife early in the afternoon to tell him that the tree had fallen into their drive. Fire crews also attended a similar incident on Old Oscott Hill in Great Barr, where they confirmed that there were no injuries reported.

A tree also blocked the line between Birmingham Snow Hill and Whitlocks End on Thursday aftenoon. A spokesperson said: "Due to the high winds, the tree below fell onto the line at Spring Road. Network Rail are working to clear the line.

"Services will remain disrupted through the early afternoon."

Will the storm continue on Friday?

A weather warning for wind has been in place for many parts of the West Midlands region today (December 21). A Wind gusts of up to 42mph are forecast to hit Birmingham at around 6pm on Thursday, with strong winds of more than 30mph continuing into the night.

The weather is expected to be calmer on Friday (December 22), although wind gusts of up to 35mph are forecast on Friday morning.