A rare “stay at home” warning has been issued for parts of the United Kingdom and Ireland as a severe storm lashes the region, bringing dangerous 100mph (160 kmh) winds and unleashing travel chaos.

A massive storm is hitting parts of the U.K. and Ireland Friday, according to the United Kingdom’s national weather and climate service.

Northern Ireland is in “the eye of the storm” with a real threat to life and property, the First Minister has said.

Hundreds of flights are canceled and ground transportation is suspended as a severe winter storm sweeps across the UK and Ireland on Friday.

Across Northern Ireland 240,000 homes and businesses are without electricity with more than 70 reports of trees down and other obstructions on the roads. | UTV News

Storm Éowyn leaves trail of debris and destruction as thousands in Northern Ireland left without power

ESB Networks in Ireland and NIE Networks say they expect significant further outages as Storm Eowyn continues to batter parts of the island.

Record high winds from Storm Eowyn battered Ireland and Northern Ireland on Friday, leaving 560,000 homes and businesses without power and forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights and the closure of schools and public transport.

Millions of people in Ireland and northern parts of the U.K. are being urged to stay at home as hurricane-force winds disabled power networks.

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Storm Éowyn is causing major disruption across the entire country on Friday morning. The red wind warning has been in place in Northern Ireland from 7am this morning and will continue until 2pm, with a further amber warning lasting until 9pm and a yellow warning until midnight.