When it rains, it pours. And pandemic and politics aside, the U.K. has yet another challenge to contend with: Storm Eunice.
Billed as Britain’s “worst storm in decades,” Storm Eunice swept onto the British Isles on Friday morning, bringing parts of the country to a standstill due to heavy winds and rain and canceling some flights and train travel.
The U.K.’s official weather agency, known as the Met Office, issued a rare “red warning” for some parts of the country, meaning the winds pose a “risk to life.”
“The red warning areas indicate a significant danger to life as extremely strong winds provide the potential for damage to structures and flying debris,” Met Office chief meteorologist Paul Gundersen said in a statement, noting that some coastal areas could see gusts in excess of 90mph, while areas inland would experience gusts of between 60-70mph.
The storm means some productions shooting on location — including Netflix’s highly anticipated new season of “The Crown” — have had to suspend filming temporarily. “A couple of units running on location in Surrey today on ‘The Crown’ were called off,” a source close to the production told Variety. “In part for the actuality of filming but also for the safety of crew travelling.”
With crew wellbeing a hot-button issue in the U.K., Philippa Childs, the head of crew union Bectu, reiterated that safety is paramount. “With the onset of Storm Eunice, productions should be taking account of the ‘risk to life’ warnings in some parts of the country,” Childs told Variety. “Health and safety at work is paramount and should always be a priority, and production companies should not expect workers to shoot on location in such treacherous circumstances.”
A number of attractions in the south west of England were also shut down on Friday due to the weather, including theme parks Legoland and Chessington World of Adventures, and 135 metre-tall observation wheel The London Eye, which sits on the banks of the River Thames.
On Twitter, some users also shared footage of one of London’s biggest live music venues, the O2 Arena, with its canopy being destroyed by the wind. The Fugees reunion tour was originally scheduled to take place at the 20,000-capacity venue on Friday, Feb. 18 but the tour was cancelled last month due to the coronavirus pandemic.
More and more of the Dome is being shredded pic.twitter.com/EUgyH2ryvK
— Ben Hubbard (@BJFHubbard) February 18, 2022
The damage will be yet another blow to the beleaguered venue, which has played host to some of the biggest names in music, including Beyoncé and the Rolling Stones, given the touring industry is still heavily impacted by the pandemic.
But even storm clouds have a silver lining, and on Friday that happened to be Big Jet TV, a live aviation YouTube channel run by Jerry Dyer, whose footage — and exuberant commentary — of aircrafts attempting to land in the storm went viral on social media.
At multiple points, over 200,000 people were tuning in to Dyer’s lively commentary — which included phrases such as “Go on my son!” and “Bosh, get it down mate” — as jumbo jets navigated the extreme winds to touch down on the tarmac at Heathrow Airport outside London.
He’s now verging on 100,000. That’s half the amount of viewers who watched E4 at 9pm earlier in the week.
— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) February 18, 2022
Dyer, an aviation enthusiast and broadcaster who was located in a paddock opposite the airport, even began fielding media interviews during the live stream, at one point simultaneously commentating on his YouTube channel and speaking to BBC Radio 2. A short while later, a camera crew from Channel 4 News attempted to cross the field to interview him before reportedly being thwarted by the field’s perimeter fence. (The Channel 4 News team did eventually make it to Dyer).
The storm warnings are not expected to continue into the weekend.