Storm Ciara has battered the UK and northern Europe with hurricane-force winds and heavy rains, halting flights and trains and producing heaving seas that closed down ports.
Authorities urged millions of people to stay indoors, away from falling tree branches.
The storm brought gales across the country and delivered gusts of 150 kilometres per hour to the village of Aberdaron in northern Wales.
Propelled by the fierce winds, a British Airways plane was thought to have made the fastest New York-to-London flight by a conventional airliner.
The Boeing 747-436 completed the 3,500-mile transatlantic journey in 4 hours and 56 minutes, landing 102 minutes early and reaching a top speed of 1,327 km per hour, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24.
Two Virgin Airlines flights also roared across the Atlantic, in record times.
Storm surges ate away at beaches and pounded rock cliffs and cement docks.
Public safety agencies urged people to avoid travel and the temptation to take selfies as floodwaters rose.
Huge crowds of stranded, frustrated travellers were seen at London's King's Cross and Euston train stations. Train crews planned to work all night to try to restore service, but Monday morning commutes were expected to be long and chaotic.
Flooded streets in Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria, as storm Ciara hits the UK. Source: AAP
Two ports on either side of the English Channel, Dover in England and Calais in France, shut down operations amid high waves.
Breaking with her usual Sunday routine, Queen Elizabeth II did not attend church in Sandringham to keep her out of harm's way during the storm.
Fire station personnel assisting a motorist stranded in flood waters under a bridge to get out of the car in Blackpool, Britain, 9 February 2020. Source: AAP
The Met Office said most of the the UK likely had seen the worst of Ciara by 9 pm, when the storm had moved on to northeastern Scotland.
Thousands of homes in Ireland and Paris lost power.
Luxembourg and the German city of Cologne announced that all school children could stay home to avoid travelling under dangerous conditions.
