this is bbc news, i'm martine croxall. the headlines at midday. storm ciara hits the uk — it's causing huge disruption across the country. it's brought gale—force winds and torrential rain. travel has been badly affected with cancelled flights and rail companies warning of disrupted services. yesterday saw gusts of up to 75mph across wales. there is predicted to be gusts even quicker today, up to 90 mph. quicker today, up to 90mph. a person is being treated at the royal free hospital in london after testing positive for coronavirus, bringing the total in the uk to four. a briton in majorca has also contracted the illness. meanwhile, 200 evacuees from wuhan have been brought back to britain and taken to milton keynes to be quarantined. counting is under way in the irish general election as an exit poll puts the three main political

parties level pegging. and in half an hour, click is in los angeles for the oscars, looking at technology and the movies. the uk is facing a day of disruption as storm ciara sweeps in, bringing damaging winds and widespread heavy rain. flights, ferries and train services are all disrupted, while dozens of outdoor events have been abandoned. met office has issued an amber warning for wind across england and wales until nine o'clock tonight, with gusts up to 80mph expected to batter coasts and hills.

scotland has had the worst of the torrential rain, with more than ten centimetres of rainfall already recorded over higher ground. almost 200 flood warnings are in place across the country, with the risk of communities being cut off by impassable roads. the severe weather is causing disruption to travel, with dozens of flights cancelled at heathrow and gatwick. ten train companies are urging passengers not to travel at all, with many others operating a reduced service. network rail has imposed a 50mph speed limit on all routes nationwide, meaning delays are likely even where services are running. the port of dover is closed to all shipping and many irish sea crossings are also cancelled. in kent, the dartford crossing is closed. the humber bridge in yorkshire has closed to high—sided vehicles and could close to all traffic. 25,000 runners due to take part in the london winter 10k run have been told it will not go ahead. manchester city's premier

league game at home to west ham was postponed due to "extreme and escalating weather conditions". london's eight royal parks have been closed, including hyde park and regent's park. in kendal in cumbria, the river kent has become a raging torrent. 0ur correspondent luxmy gopal is in dover. the weather conditions have been worsening since this morning here, and now, it has become so bad that all very services are suspended from the port due to the strong winds. it is not just here the port due to the strong winds. it is notjust here that ferry services have been affected, there have been disruptions and cancellations with irish ferry crossings and with services in scotland. a ferry tried to birth but could not because of the strong winds and it had to go back out to sea. and that is not the only place where travel disruption has been happening. there has been a

huge amount of disruption on the railways, a lot of railway companies advising passengers not to travel out all today due to disruption on the line. network rail has imposed a speed restriction of 50mph for safety reasons. flights have also been affected by storm ciara, with disruption to a lot of flight schedules. some flights have been cancelled out of heathrow, gatwick and london city airport. drivers have been told to take extra care on the roads. a little earlier i spoke to our wales correspondent tomos morgan in aberystwyth. he said many welsh rugby fans could be left stranded in dublin as ferry services have been cancelled. it is incredibly windy here in abe rystwyth. it is incredibly windy here in aberystwyth. wales saw gusts of over 80mph here yesterday and it looks like we will be in for the same thing again today, as the storm hits the country here along the west coast, mostly, here in wales. there is reports of localised flooding

across the north of wales, and as you can see here in aberystwyth behind me, the sea is bashing the sea defences across the coastline here in the harbour. we have already heard about a number of public transport that has been cancelled across the country. in wales, a numberof trains across the country. in wales, a number of trains have been cancelled, there will not be any bus replacement services. i think one of the big issues, as you can see from the big issues, as you can see from the sea here, the irish sea, is going to be the ferries. a number of welsh supporters have been in dublin since yesterday for the match and they have been stranded as ferries bringing back the supporters have been affected. so, flood warnings in place, that amber warning from the met office for wind will be in place for the rest of today, and a yellow rain warning here as well all day across wales. our correspondent sharon barbour is in blackpool.

also being buffeted, but hopefully not quite as badly yet, sharon? well, i have some protection, to be honest, i am standing in front of a wall, but as you can see behind me, plenty of drama indices here in blackpool, really huge waves have been coming up and over the railings. but a danger as well because all morning we have seen a steady stream of people getting up really close, because what happens, of course, in these situations is that it seems ok, they get very close and then a huge wave comes over the top. we have had the coast guard coming along keeping an eye think, the rnli advising totally against it in so close to these waves. we have heard of flooding, the rnli boathouse up the road, also damage to buildings, and a roof a p pa re ntly damage to buildings, and a roof apparently has blown off, lots of localised flooding around here. you can see the emergency services down the road. very flooded. and also of course the trains have stopped

pretty much and lots of people we have spoken to are really struggling to leave blackpool at the moment after coming here for the weekend. but let's have a look again at this really turbulent, wild, furious sea. it has been absolutely raging all morning. the high tide hasjust passed, so i think things will pretty much quieten down. but of course, strong winds and heavy rain here and for the rest of the country today. alex burkill is a meteorologist at the met office in exeter. he told me more about the storm. it's covering the whole of the uk, we do have a yellow warning which covers everywhere across the whole of the uk and a very large amber warning as well, and that's where we are most likely to see the really significant impact from the very strong winds. i've never seen an amber warning this large, which just goes

to so how widespread the impacts are going to be due to storm ciara, as we go through today. but it's notjust the winds, it's also heavy rain. we've seen in excess of 100 millimetres already over some parts of northern england and north wales. that's leading to some flooding, so, we've got very strong winds and also this heavy rain as well. how unusual is a storm like this? so, it's not that unusual for us to get deep areas of low pressure coming in from the atlantic, which is what we've got at the moment. so far this winter season, we haven't had a huge amount hitting the uk. so, this is a little bit different to what we've had so far. but what's unusual perhaps is how widespread the impacts are going to be, and also it's worth noting how strong the jet stream has been, and it that that's been causing the energy, or giving the momentum, to this low pressure. we've had a jet stream of around 250mph—260mph over in the atlantic, and that's why it's so unsettled and unstable across uk at the moment. and how long is it going to be with us? so, storm ciara is going to last

through much of today, really. we are going to see very strong winds. it's worth noting that as some bands of rain sweep across the country, it's notjust coastal parts that are likely to see gusts of around 70mph to 80mph. but even inland areas, which don't usually see those strengths of wind. so, anywhere could get very strong winds. but after today, it will clear away. however there's further windy weather coming in. we are going to see some and wintry showers across parts we are going to see some wintry showers across parts of scotland in particular, but also some other northern areas, and perhaps feeding a little bit further south as we go into the new working week. so, that brings different hazards. we are likely to see some hail, some lightning, some thunder, but also the risk of some sleet and snow building up over the higher ground, particularly towards the north. you can keep up to date with the changing weather hull bridge news on social media are

saying that the hull bridge is currently closed to all traffic and pedestrians, please avoid the area, they say, because of the storm conditions. so, the hull bridge, currently closed to all traffic and pedestrians. the impact of these incredible winds was felled by a british airways flight from new york to london, that has broken the record for the fastest subsonic flight record for the fastest subsonic flight across the atlantic. the overnight journey flight across the atlantic. the overnightjourney on saturday took four hours and 56 minutes, more than an hour faster than normal. four hours and 56 minutes, more than an hourfaster than normal. the plane hurtled across the ocean at ground speeds of around 800mph. propelled by the jetstream, ground speeds of around 800mph. propelled by thejetstream, which has brought storm ciara to ask. other flights on the route also landed well ahead of time, that is the fastest transatlantic crossing, short of travelling on concorde. you can keep up to date with the changing weather developments in your area today — just head to your local bbc radio

station, and of course, the bbc news website. another person has tested positive for the coronavirus in the uk, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to four. the patient, who's being treated in a specialist unit at the royal free hospital in north london, is a known contact of another british person who had already tested positive for the virus. meanwhile, in majorca, a british man who had been put into quarantine has also been confirmed as having contracted coronavirus. more on the fourth case here in a moment. first, our correspondent in madrid, guy hedgecoe, gave us this update on the case in majorca. this is the second case to be confirmed in spain. there was a case a few days ago of a german holidaymaker on the canary islands. this, as you mentioned, is on the balearic islands, in majorca. this british man had felt some symptoms of what he thought might be

the coronavirus a few days ago so he checked himself into this hospital in the capital of majorca, parma. he and members of his family were tested yesterday and the tests were sent off to madrid and this morning, we heard that he has tested this positive for coronavirus, but the three other members of his family, his wife and two daughters, tested negative. well, earlier this morning, a plane carrying british nationals home from the coronavirus—hit city of wuhan landed at raf brize norton in oxfordshire. there were more than 200 people on board the flight, including government staff, military medics and foreign nationals. the foreign office said it was the second and final flight to be chartered by the government out of the chinese city. the evacuated passengers have now arrived at a milton keynes hotel to be quarantined. our correspondentjon donnison has further details. we are told by nhs staff here that there are around about 150 who are going to be staying at this training

and conference centre just outside milton keynes. training and conference centre just outside milton keynes, they arrived on a convoy of coaches, not too many on each bus, it looked like they were trying to keep them not too crowded, many of the passengers we could see were wearing masks, and they are going to be kept in isolation for two weeks here. we are told by nhs staff that there is no—one else going to be staying here, although some of the staff at the conference centre have decided to keep on working, but there are going to be two different teams, one team who has contact with those patients, and another team who doesn't. as to what they are going to do, well, they are going to be provided with things like netflix and kindles, books and magazines. clothes, because many of them were told to travel pretty light, with only cabin bags, when they came over, and they are going to be stuck here for two weeks. a fourth case has been confirmed in the uk, tell us

more about that? yeah, that news has just come through from the chief medical officer, chris whitty, and what we know is that this person contracted it from somebody in france, apparently, they then followed the nhs advice, which was not to go to a&e, but to self—isolate and get in touch with the nhs. that person has now been transferred to the royal free hospital in north london, where the chief medical officer chris whitty was saying that robust measures were being put in place to stop further infection of people. the number of people who have died from the new coronavirus has exceeded the number killed in the sars outbreak nearly 20 years ago. the latest figures show that more than 800 patients have died in mainland china and hong kong. let's speak to our correspondent imogen foulkes, who is in geneva, where the world health organization is headquartered.

tell us more about these figures, imogen? well, it is a kind of a grim milestone, the world health organisation will have known that at some point, given the way that the caseload of the coronavirus is increasing, that sadly, the death toll probably would surpass that of sars. i think the who are going to give a briefing in a couple of hours' time, it will be interesting to hear what they say about it, because, of course, just yesterday evening, they were telling us that perhaps there is a little possibility that the virus may be plateauing and that the new number of cases each day seems to be getting a bit lower. so, the caseload yesterday, new caseload, was a bit lower than it had been the day before, and that perhaps, this isa day before, and that perhaps, this is a positive sign. but very early days, and i think what we are seeing

is, we are in a very crucial phase now of trying to contain and control this virus. imogen foulkes in geneva, thank you very much. hong kong authorities have allowed passengers and crew members to disembark a cruise ship after they tested negative for coronavirus. the world's dream was quarantined in hong kong after crew members showed signs of the virus. at least 69 british passport holders were believed to be onboard the ship. the headlines on bbc news. storm ciara hits the uk. it's causing huge disruption across the country. it's brought gale force winds and torrential rain. ttravel has been badly affected, with cancelled flights and rail companies warning of disrupted services. a person is being treated at the royal free hospital in london after testing positive for coronavirus, bringing the total in the uk to four. a briton in majorca has also contracted the illness.

time for sport and a full round—up from the bbc sport centre. good afternoon. south africa have set england a target of 237 in the one—day international in johannesburg. adil rasheed starred with the ball, taking three wickets, and saqib mahmood marked his england debut by removing reeza hendricks. england must win the game to level the series at 1—1. manchester city's premier league match against west ham on sunday has been called off because of storm ciara, which is affecting numerous sporting fixtures today. although sheffield united against bournemouth is set to go ahead. all six women's super league games have been postponed, including the merseyside derby at goodison park. and the women's six nations match between scotland and england is also off, as well as three race meetings. the situation is changing all the time so do check before you travel.

there is one football match under way — bsc glasgow are playing the biggest game in their history against hibernian in the fifth round of the scottish cup. and hibs are lading i—0, marc mcnulty with the goal, about 15 mintues gone there. celtic are away to league one clyde later with the draw for the quarterfinals straight after that. there was more success for great britain in hockey‘s pro league, with the men claiming theirfirst win of the campaign, beating new zealand 3—0. the women meanwhile drew 2—2 in their second tie in auckland, before winning the shootout 5—4 to claim the bonus point and move to fifth in the standings. great britain's ice hockey team are back in action later, as they bid to reach the winter olympics for the first time since 1948. they thrashed estonia 7—i to go top of their group in pre—qualifying for beijing 2022, so victory against hungary this evening would earn them a place in the final qualifiers in august.

terri harper has become britain's second female boxing world champion, after winning the super—featherweight world title last night. harper is 23 and from doncaster and what is remarkable is this was only her tenth fight as a professional. she was always in control against eva wahlstrom, scoring a knock—down in the seventh round. she's britain's only reigning world champion, with nicola adams now retired. and kel brook has his sights set on becoming a two—time world champion, after a victorious return to the ring. he's been away for 14th months and he stopped american mark deluca in their super welterweight bout. brook could now be in line for a wbo title elimnator for a wbo title eliminator against fellow—briton liam smith, who was watching ringside. back to cricket now, because some of the game's biggest names came together in melbourne today, for the bushfire bash, in aid of the victims‘ relief fund.

the appeal has so far raised around £400 million. two legends of the game, india's sachin tendulkar and west indies‘ brian lara, were among the players, with the sides led by former australian captains adam gilchrist and ricky ponting, who took time to play with some youngsters. tendulkar, the highest test run scorer of all—time, was delighted to see so much support. i had a throwdown session yesterday at the mcg, and while chatting with elise perry, i told her that one thing i can guarantee, i can see the ball. i'm not sure whether i will be able to hit it or not! i have not had many sessions, but it is just nice that we will all be here to raise money. the amount is not at all disappointing. it's amazing, i know in australia, any sort of occurrences like what happened, people do come together in solidarity, and in the country areas in australia, people are fighting

to put their lives back together. the ones who are fortunate here can come out and support. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more in the next hour. votes are being counted in ireland's general election, with an exit poll indicating a tie between the three main parties. it suggests that the centre—right fine gael party, led by the prime minister, leo varadkar, won about 22% of first preference votes, with the centrist fianna fail and left—leaning sinn fein, only fractionally behind. we can speak to our ireland correpsondent sara girvin. she's in dublin. because of this first preference system, it is not always obvious from the beginning who is going to win, but what might a coalition look like? yeah, i mean, it is a pretty complicated affair here at the moment, the count has been underway for about three hours and you might

be able to hear some celebrating behind me, even though we haven't had any official results yet. we are not expecting any for another hour oi’ not expecting any for another hour orso, it might not expecting any for another hour or so, it might even go into tomorrow. but what we do have is that exit poll. as with all exit polls, it comes with a health warning, but what it is predicting is pretty much a three—way tie between fianna fail, fine gael and sinn fein. those arejust between fianna fail, fine gael and sinn fein. those are just the first preference votes, but whichever way the numbers stack up, as you say, we are looking at a coalition government. it is something which is normal here in the republic of ireland, but here is where it gets complicated. fianna fail and fine gael have already said they will not form a government with sinn fein. they have been citing the party's past links to paramilitary violence during the conflict in northern ireland. sinn fein, for their part, point to their role in the peace process and say that excluding them from government would be undemocratic. so, counting the votes todayis undemocratic. so, counting the votes today is just the start of what will bea

today is just the start of what will be a lengthy and complicated process to form a government. one of the notable to form a government. one of the nota ble features to form a government. one of the notable features of this election is that sinn fein should support has increased, what are putting that down to? absolutely, there has been much talk about the sinn fein surge, and a lot of people are pointing towards the fact that this election hasn't centred around social issues here in the republic of ireland, issues like housing and homelessness and the health service, but particularly housing, because there simply aren't enough affordable homes in the republic of ireland in the major towns and cities. and that is really, particularly an issue among young people. sinn fein have seized on that and promised to build 100,000 new homes within a very short timeframe. of course, their critics have said, where is the money coming from to pay for that? one word we have heard over and over again during this election is change. the economy in the republic of ireland is the fastest—growing in the eu, but people are saying they

arejust the eu, but people are saying they are just not seeing that filter down the food chain to them. they wonder if sinn fein can offer them the change they are looking for. it is important to remember that in 2016, after the election then, it took more than two months for a government to be formed. so, today, the count is reallyjust the first step. whatever way the numbers work out, we can expect days, weeks, even months of complex political negotiations. sara girvin in dublin, thank you very much. the labour party has formally reported members of sir keir starmer‘s leadership campaign team to the information commissioner, accusing them of hacking into the party's membership database. sir keir and his team deny the claim, as our political correspondent susana mendonca explained to me earlier. well, what we understand is that two members of sir keir starmer‘s campaign team, including a compliance officer, have been reported by the labour party to the

information commissioner. they have accused them of what is known as data scraping, hacking information of the labour membership database, and using that information for their campaign. sir keir starmer and and using that information for their campaign. sir keir starmerand his campaign. sir keir starmerand his campaign team have flatly denied this, saying this is a politically motivated attempt by people in operational on some the labour party to try and derail his campaign to become the next leader, and of course rebecca long—bailey is another of the candidates who certainly is seen as somebody that there was within the labour party close to jeremy corbyn would there was within the labour party close tojeremy corbyn would like to see as the replacement tojeremy corbyn, so keir starmer is saying that this is politically motivated. he said the party had examined, sorry, the campaign team, had examined weather there were loopholes, but decided not to proceed with that. they also point to questions around rebecca long—bailey's use of membership lists. we understand that they have raised concerns about that. and so in terms of rebecca long—bailey, we

understand that there were links that were circulated to volunteers who had access to the membership database, who had access to the membership data base, and who had access to the membership database, and her who had access to the membership data base, and her team who had access to the membership database, and her team said that was com pletely database, and her team said that was completely innocent. so, a lot of questions around the use of databases, questions around the use of data bases, and questions around the use of databases, and it is something which the labour party says it has told all of its candidates to be careful of. and the impact on the contest? it shows that things are getting ugly. it shows that things are getting ugly, and as we get close to the end date and we find out who the winner is, ithink date and we find out who the winner is, i think all of the candidates are getting a bit worried about the outcome. in terms of sir keir starmer we understand he has been gaining a lot of support in the constituency labour party is, including ajeremy constituency labour party is, including a jeremy corbyn‘s own islington north, where he was selected over rebecca long—bailey, and so there is a sense that it is a very tight race and that is going to lead to their being concerns in the different teens about ways that they can perhaps put their own candidate ahead of the other. in terms of the hustings, there was supposed to be a hustings, there was supposed to be a hustings today in dudley, that has been cancelled because sir keir starmer is having to take some time

off campaigning at the moment because his mother—in—law was involved in an accident and is in a very serious condition in hospital. so, that was cancelled, the one yesterday which was held in nottingham, sir keir starmer was not able to attend, and we are expected able to attend, and we are expected a lot more hustings over the coming weeks and the new leader of the labour party will be in place on fourth april. have a back. oh, my goodness, yes, we are getting some very dramatic images in from our weather watchers so far today, particularly around the coasts. it is high tide, so, coastalflooding is high tide, so, coastalflooding isa is high tide, so, coastalflooding is a problem. trees being blown down, and a lot of reports of disruption to public transport. and the met office has an amber warning in force for severe gales across england and wales, right into this evening. but it is notjust england and wales which is being affected, it is scotland and northern ireland, too. this is storm ciara, you have no doubt heard the name, tightly

packed isobars no doubt heard the name, tightly packed isoba rs meaning no doubt heard the name, tightly packed isobars meaning strong winds across the uk. and in fact we could experience a peak in some areas a little later on, particularly through the central belt of scotland, where it could hit 85mph, and further south, as a line of more organised rain comes south. things could get particularly scored. so, perhaps worse to come for some in the next six hours or so. evening and overnight, it does remain windy but the winds should ease back somewhat. there will still be gales in northern and western areas, quite a few snow showers set to come in overnight as well. to the south, skies will clear somewhat and it will become dry for many. chilly to the north as you can imagine with snow arriving. but the really cold air is going to start to advance for the start of the week. storm ciara clears off into scandinavia and then we move into an arctic air flow coming in from the north west or the

west, a lot more showers to come for sky lead and parts of northern england on monday and tuesday. for some of the highest ground, we could be talking up to 20 centimetres of snow in that 48 hours, and even at about 100 metres in height we could get a covering of snow. tuesday, perhaps a little drier to the south of the uk but any showers that turn up, the air is cold enough that there could be a wintry element and it will feel cold with the wind and the drop in temperatures. outside at the drop in temperatures. outside at the moment it is 14—15d, but by tuesday and wednesday we are talking about 5—6. on wednesday a ridge of high pressure comes in, the biggest difference that will make is that it will kill off the winds, at least for a time. still some snow showers around in the north west. towards the west there is another area of low pressure heading our way. that will be on thursday. so, the week ahead looks like it will bring us some very challenging conditions. please stay safe or the rest of

today with the severe gales. hello, this is bbc news with martine croxall. the headlines: storm ciara hits the uk. it's causing huge disruption across the country. it's brought gale force winds and torrential rain. travel has been badly affected, with cancelled flights and rail companies warning of disrupted services. yesterday saw gusts of up to 75 mph across wales. there is predicted to be gusts even quicker today, up to 90 mph. a person's being treated at the royal free hospital in london after testing positive for coronavirus, bringing the total in the uk to four. a briton in majorca has also contracted the illness. meanwhile, 200 evacuees from wuhan have been brought back to britain and taken to milton keynes to be quarantined. counting is underway in the irish general election,