Storm Franklin Bristol: Are buses and trains back to normal with yellow weather warning in place

Following on from nearly a whole week of severe weather warnings and disruption, the third UK storm has been named and Bristol is facing a fresh deluge of extreme conditions. Storm Franklin is the seventh named storm to hit the UK since late last year.

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for Bristol and the south west, in place until 1 pm. They are telling people to expect strong winds and possible disruption.

Gusts of around 46mph are hitting the city and are expected to last until this afternoon, easing later in the day.

The storm is causing widespread travel disruption across the city and flood alerts have been put in place in certain areas. So, where are they and what do you need to know?

Flood alerts

A flood alert has been issued for the Severn Estuary at Severn Bridge this morning and includes New Passage and Pilning.

Gov.uk has issued a statement to say that “strong winds are expected on the Bristol Channel on Monday, coinciding with spring tides. We are expecting this to cause large waves and a tidal surge along the coast.”

They also issued the following statement: “We are closely monitoring the situation. Our incident response staff are checking defences. Please be careful along beaches, promenades and coastal footpaths and roads and stay aware in case further warnings are issued.”

With flood warnings in place, the government website suggests that people in the surrounding areas continue to check in for updates and think about preparing a bag for emergencies.

What about the roads and buses?

The M48 Severn bridge is shut today as the winds continue to create too much risk, and a diversion is in place to the M4 Prince of Wales Bridge.

Bus timetables are back to normal today - but there is still disruption.

First West of England are posting live updates of travel disruption affecting their bus routes on their Twitter page (@FirstBSA). Due to fallen trees and power cables at the top of Alveston Hill/Bristol Rd near Thornbury. They are diverting buses in both directions.

What is happening with trains in Bristol?

With severe disruption to services, Great Western Railway has put out a statement to ask people to “only travel if absolutely necessary”.

Many of the trains scheduled to arrive and leave from Bristol Temple Meads are cancelled or delayed and a 50mph speed limit on services is in place until 4pm Monday. Passengers are advised to keep checking the status of their journey but most routes are only operating hourly services.

South Western Railway is also urging customers not to travel today. They have put in place a 50mph speed limit on their services which will cause delays, and anticipate line blockages due to fallen trees. They also stress that they “cannot guarantee replacement travel services will be provided during this challenging time.”

Christian Neill, customer experience director for SWR said: “We understand Monday marks the first day back from half term for many and we are sorry for the continuing disruption these storms are causing. It has been an incredibly challenging few days and our teams have been working tirelessly to clear the tracks to safely run as many trains as possible. With more severe weather expected on Monday, we are asking customers not to attempt to travel as we cannot guarantee to get them to their destination”

According to SWR, tickets booked for travel on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday will be accepted on Tuesday. Tickets for GWR will be valid until and including Wednesday 23rd February.

When will Storm Franklin ease?

In Bristol, the yellow weather warning for wind ends at 1pm - the rest of the day will remain windy until around 6pm when conditions will return to normal.

Met Office meteorologist Alex Deakin has told Sky News: “We have never had three in a week, last Monday we named two in the same day - we have never done that before either.”

He added that getting three storms back-to-back is “likely to increase problems” but he said the weather should start “calming down after today”.