Two killed by falling trees as Storm Darragh batters much of the UK and Ireland

Two people have been killed and hundreds of thousands of people are without power across the UK and Ireland as high winds and heavy rain from Storm Darragh battered the region.

Gusts of up to 149 kilometres per hour were recorded as officials sent a rare emergency alert by phone to about three million households in Wales and southwest England early on Saturday.

The official alert, which came with a loud siren-like sound, warned people to stay indoors and was sent to every compatible mobile phone in the areas impacted by Storm Darragh.

In northwest England, a man in his 40s died when a tree fell onto his van while he was driving on a highway near Preston, about 58 kilometres north of Manchester.

And in a similar incident, another man was killed by a falling tree while he was driving in the Erdington area of Birmingham.

The UK's main weather forecasters, the Met Office, issued a red weather warning on Friday but in a post on X on Saturday evening said that Storm Darragh would clear eastward on Sunday morning but advised windy conditions would continue across much of the UK.

Thousands of homes, many in Northern Ireland, Wales and western England, were left without power overnight.

Major highways and bridges across the country were closed because of strong winds and multiple train services were suspended.

In Ireland, almost 400,000 homes, farms or businesses were without power as a result of the storm.

Some flights at Dublin Airport were also cancelled.