Written by By Deirdre Kelly, CNN
London – At least two people were killed by Storm Arwen, which whipped up high winds and torrential rain across the UK overnight.
The victims were killed when a tree fell on their car in Essex, south east England, and when a tractor reportedly went out of control and hit their car in Lancashire, northwest England, police said.
On Twitter, Lancashire Police said the man in his 20s died when his car was “snatched from the road” on the A66 road in the county, while the woman died “as a result of a road traffic collision involving another vehicle and a tree.”
Frequent power outages across the UK because of the storm led to chaos for many commuters on Tuesday.
“The lights are still out for thousands of homes and businesses around the country. We’re doing everything we can to get them restored but this will take time,” Energy Supply Association Director John Stonebridge said in a statement.
“Storm Arwen continued to strike Northern England overnight, bringing significant lightning strikes and strong winds that led to widespread outages. Rural parts of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland were particularly badly affected.”
The power outages had left people without heating or lighting, he said.
In Edinburgh, the Scottish electricity company Ofgem reported that peak demand reached 152 megawatts in the city, a record for a March day.
Flights and ferry crossings into and out of the city were also disrupted.
Elsewhere in the UK, commuters were warned to expect further travel disruptions throughout the day as more yellow weather warnings were issued by the Met Office.
Most trains were running late on Tuesday, with no services across the London Waterloo line, the East Coast mainline and the West Coast Main Line. Passengers on cross-country services were being diverted via the Scottish Borders line, the Transport for London tweeted.
More than 2,500 travelers faced delays or cancellations on the London Waterloo and Arriva Trains Wales lines on Tuesday morning.