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Commuters face travel disruption this morning as Storm Isha batters the UK with 99mph winds, leaving tens of thousands without power.

Rush-hour trains have been axed for many, with the gusty conditions expected to cause more cancellations and delays for rail, air and sea travellers into Monday morning.

A yellow warning for wind is in place for the entire UK until midday, after the Met Office had issued two amber wind alerts and a red warning for parts of northern Scotland, which have expired.

Damage to homes and buildings, falling trees, power cuts, flying debris, large waves and even some flooding in places should be expected into Monday morning, it was warned.

Key points:

• Electricity North West said crews have been stood down until Tuesday evening due to the conditions;
• Network Rail has imposed 50mph speed restrictions across most routes;
• Scot Rail has cancelled all rush-hour trains and services may not resume until “later on Monday”;
• Sellafield nuclear site closed on Sunday as a precaution.

More than 45,000 have no power in Northern Ireland, with another 8,000 people affected in northwest England, where crews won’t carry out repairs until Tuesday evening due to the conditions.

Agencies across Cumbria declared themselves on standby for a major incident, with Sellafield nuclear site closing as a precaution on Sunday.

Someone was treated at the scene after being struck by falling debris when scaffolding became dislodged in Belfast.

The Met Office said “everybody” has been affected by the storm, while heavy downpours battered some places with 28 flood warnings in places in England and 50 in Scotland.

Network Rail has imposed 50mph speed restrictions across most routes to keep passengers and trains safe from falling trees and debris blown onto tracks.

Scotland’s railway operator cancelled all of its rush-hour trains and services may not begin running until about noon.

The remains of a garden shed were blown on to the line at Bellgrove station in Glasgow and a small fire broke out after a tree fell on overhead wires in Gartcosh, Cumbernauld, Network Rail said.

A wall and fence were blown on to the line at Glasgow Queen Street, while the River Tay breached safety limits at the Dalguise Viaduct on the Highland Mainline, forcing the overnight watchman to abandon the site.

Further south, no LNER trains will run north of Newcastle until midday and East Midlands Railway has said delays and alterations to its services are “likely”.

Meanwhile, air traffic control restrictions are in place, leading to flight cancellations and causing some planes to divert.

Ryanair flights to Dublin from Manchester and Lanzarote in the Canary Islands diverted to Paris and Bordeaux respectively.

A Tui flight from Sharm el Sheikh to Glasgow Airport declared an emergency and was diverted to Manchester.

And the Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (Torro) said a tornado is “possible” in England and Wales.

A more serious “tornado watch” zone was in place for Northern Ireland, as well as parts of Scotland and northern England, but expired late on Sunday.

Cold Arctic air pushing south into North America is making the jet stream more active, the Met Office said, and because it flows from west to east, it is bringing stormier weather to the UK.

Storm Isha is the ninth named storm to hit the UK since the season began in September.

Each storm is named when it poses a risk to people and they are given names beginning with consecutive letters of the alphabet.

The record number of named storms in one year is when the Met Office began the practice in 2015/16, with Storm Katie being the 11th and final storm of the season.