the now, please stay safe with the threat of severe gales into this evening almost across the whole uk. this is bbc news i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 3pm: storm ciara hits the uk, causing widespread disruption. the whole of the uk is under either a yellow or amber weather warning, and 12,000 people are without power. it's brought gale—force winds and torrential rain. travel has been badly affected, with flights and rail services being cancelled. at times, the gusts are so strong, you're almost blown off your feet. and in the past few minutes, we've also had lashing rain to throw into the mix too. a person's being treated at the royal free hospital in london after testing positive for coronavirus, bringing the total cases in the uk to four. a briton in majorca has also contracted the illness. counting is under way in the irish general election, as an exit poll puts the three main political parties level—pegging.

results not expected for another couple of days. results not expected for another couple of days. thousands of mourners in thailand hold a vigil for 26 people shot dead by a rogue soldier. in la, 0scars fever has arrived at the 92nd academy awards and the red carpet will be rolled out tonight. and in half an hour, the victoria derbyshire programme speaks to a group of former jehovah's witnesses, who are suing the group over historical sexual abuse. good afternoon. severe gales and heavy rain are affecting the length and breadth of the uk. from north to south and east to

west. as storm ciara sweeps in, causing flooding and widespread travel disruption. gusts of more than 100 miles per hour have been recorded and there are more than 300 flood warnings in place, meaning immediate action is required, with one severe warning, meaning a danger to life, in place near pateley bridge in north yorkshire. the whole of the uk is under either a yellow or amber weather warning for wind, meaning more disruption to travel and power lines is likely. airlines have cancelled dozens of flights, ferry passengers face delays, and cancellations and thousands of people have been left without power. with more, here's our correspondent helena wilkinson. this is blackpool, one of the coastal areas bearing the brunt of storm ciara. severe gales and heavy rain are sweeping across the country, causing difficult and sometimes dangerous conditions. this is as close as i'm going to get, behind a building,

so it's up to everybody, really, isn't it? they know their own limitations. it's crazy, isn't it? i mean, i feel like the abominable snowwoman in all this! it's amazing. it's just coming right over the promenade. you just don't get too close, you know? you heed the warnings, because they're there for a reason. yeah. aberystwyth, in wales, is also being battered by the storm. wales has been hit by the strongest wind so far. it's a similar picture in dover. at the port, ferry services have been suspended, as large waves make it impossible to travel. in west yorkshire, sirens dating back to world war ii warned of flooding, with rivers swelling, like this one in cumbria. across the country, strong winds have uprooted trees. this was a near—miss in essex. the storm has also caused severe disruption on the railway network, with speed restrictions across much of the country. airlines have also cancelled

dozens of domestic and international flights. i've never seen an amber warning this large, which just goes to show 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. that amount of rain has made flooding inevitable, and fire crews have been called out to rescue stranded motorists. but it's not all bad news. these windsurfers in dorset seem to be making the most of the severe weather, which is forecast to last for the rest of the day. helena wilkinson, bbc news. yorkshire and lancashire are among the areas hardest hit by today's torrential rain. this was the scene a little earlier today in the calder valley in north yorkshire. a trailer being swept along in the deluge — not down the river, but along a street and past a bus stop.

nearby, a petrol station has flooded. outside the local church, cars have been submerged by the flood waters. in whalley, in lancashire, the high street was turned into a raging torrent. sandbags have been piled up outside local shops to try to stop waterfrom coming in, while local residents have already started the clear—up operation. in the yorkshire dales, firemen had been helping residents in a number of flooded villages. and it will be a long day ahead for many of the emergency services. simonjones is in dover and, a little earlier, he gave us this rather soggy update on conditions in the port. one word, shaun, absolutely grim is the word that i would use. as you can see, a lot of people have come down. it has become a bit of a spectacle. even though the coast guard and emergency services are advising people to stay away from here. we're certainly keeping a safe distance from the waves here. but given their size, it's hardly surprising that around ten o'clock this morning, a decision was made to shut the port of dover to ferry movements.

so, only really one ferry in there at the moment, which is very unusual to see it that quiet. and we've also had a dramatic rescue just down the coast from here. earlier, a surfer was seen in the water, deciding to brave these conditions — some would say rather foolishly. he lost his surfboard and was seen by a coastguard team being swept out to sea. now, that prompted a huge search, involving three coastguard teams, the sea rch—and—rescue helicopter, the police on land. and rather amazingly, he was located, in nearby rye bay. when he was found, he was said to be conscious. i've just spoken to one of the coastguard team, who said it's an absolute miracle that he didn't lose his life, given the conditions that we've got here today. i hope it's not something that anyone else is going to make the mistake of trying to do, because the afternoon, it's not quietening down really, is it, simon? the forecast is still very,

very severe weather. yeah, the warning is it's going to be like this for the rest of today. and it's notjust with the ferries and at the coast that we've got problems. right across the country, we've had trees down, causing problems on the roads. and particular issues on the railway network too. there's a lot of speed restrictions, trains unable to go over 50 miles an hour, if they are able to run at all. here in kent, for example — just to give you a microcosm of what's happening right across the country — we've had trees down on the railway line. we had some of the overhead power network came down near ashford, halting trains. we had a train hit a drainpipe that had blown onto the track in erith. and we've also had trampolines blowing onto the railway line too. unusual, but it meant that trains had to be halted while those trampolines were moved and checked it hadn't caused any damage to the track. so, the advice very much is in conditions like... aah! ..this.

you can see what it's like! shaun laughs as i say, we're keeping safely away, but that doesn't stop me getting drenched by the waves here. but what i was about to say to you, rather prematurely, best to stay away really and stay indoors! simonjames simon james has a simonjames has a toughjob! i admire your knowledge! you are the man he will get the complaints if your forecast is not 100%. i'm joined now by our weather presenter, phil avery. this was very well for cass, he would say that, wouldn't he? there has been a lot of notice of the storm. if only because it started life over on the eastern side of the usa and cause a lot of issues there, and it was a matter of speed, time, distance calculations to get it to the right point to give the effects we have seen widely across the british isles today. and that is nothing, people are saying, how unusual is this? well, i think we go back far as 2013 to the stjude storm in october that year. before

we see warnings so storm in october that year. before we see warnings so widely at the sort of level we had and the amber warning is extensive across england and wales. this is notjust the north—western court of scotland where we have had issues, your appetite has covered the bases very well there. we have this amber warning —— your report has covered. we have a warning until 9pm tonight and we are not out of the woods by any means. it has been very windy and gusts in the welsh coast up to 90 mph come south coast 80 mph in extreme locations. and a lot of rain. within the past 2a hours, it is the usual suspects, the high ground of cumbria, 150 millimetres of rain in a couple of locations, and you have seen the effects. as soon as the rivers like the cold outcome of usual suspects, starts topping up, we have issues we have. —— the colder river. we were already up —— the colder river. we were already up to one severe flood warning when icame up up to one severe flood warning when i came up the stairs, 248 england, 17 in wales and 59 in scotland, and

thatis 17 in wales and 59 in scotland, and that is the mid and upper levels of flood warnings and severe flood warnings, that doesn't account for the flood alerts which, as the rain keep —— keeps on coming and it is coming, we may find the figure is rising. you have the sudden ground you have to live with for quite some time. and the tides are high so the rivers that discharge into the coastal waters will have issues because the tide is so high and you get at idle blocking where you don't get at idle blocking where you don't get the discharge from the rivers into the open sea. —— tidal blocking. so because of the strength of the wind and the usual pictures from our weather watchers and the coastal viewers, there are significant issues not just for coastal viewers, there are significant issues notjust for the rest of the day, but i should say we will not have gusts of wind every next couple of days at 80 or 90 mph, but certainly tonight and into tomorrow and into tuesday, the first half of wednesday, some gusts of wind will be around 60 mph, so we expect to see continuing disruption to ferries for example. i have

looked at a couple of sites across the channel and not into just the isles of scotland, and they are talking about cancellations and re—routing services. talking about cancellations and re-routing services. the red alert from the environment agency covers parts of north yorkshire. presumably, that higher ground in particular he has been vulnerable, but how unusual is it during the winter to have the whole uk affected by such a strong weather pattern, given we are used to storms in particular areas and they are routine part of life for many people? that takes us back from a warning point of you, and there are many ways you can measure the storms, sent oppression for the meteorologists —— central pressure. we have never had the impacts we have seen within the past 24 hours, though. but we go back to the st jude's day storm before we say, we are all in the same leaky storm boat. there has been no escape. if you have not seen the worst conditions yet, and the southern parts of britain may not have seen

the very worst. there is more to come? yes, we have a very active front which is around about the sort of from the wash down to the middle of from the wash down to the middle of the south—west of england, that is yet to move through the rest of east anglia and the south east. when it went through crown england nottinghamshire, we were talking about gusts of nearly 80 mph. that is really quite unusual. normally, we go to the higher ground of wales. around the south—west, where i come from. but into downtown england, that does sort of pique your interest. it certainly does. phil, thank you very much, you will keep us thank you very much, you will keep us up—to—date along with your collea g u es us up—to—date along with your colleagues at the bbc weather centre. and that feeds in with the information been gathered by bbc local radio and bbc online services. enter your postcode or perhaps a postcode of loved ones you are worried about or an area where somebody is travelling from or coming to see you or where you are

perhaps going, that gives you a closer picture of what is happening. very precisely, in different parts of the uk. that red weather warning from the environment agency of the potential risk to life and parts of the river in north yorkshire, and we will keep across that of bbc news. but let's move on. england's chief medical officer has said that another patient in england has been diagnosed with the coronavirus. this brings the total number of cases in the uk to four. the latest patient to be diagnosed is being treated at the royal free hospital in london. a british man has also been diagnosed with the virus in majorca. he had been quarantined, along with his wife and two daughters, who tested negative for coronavirus. this morning, more than 200 people were flown back to the uk from china and the city of wuhan. they will spend the next fortnight being monitored at a special facility in milton keynes. and in hong kong, thousands of people stuck on a cruise ship

have been allowed to disembark, after crew members tested negative for the virus. more than 3,000 crew and passengers were stranded on the world dream ship for five days, while tests were carried out. well, jon donnison sent this report from milton keynes. the latest british victim is now being treated at the royal free hospital in north london. they a p pa re ntly hospital in north london. they apparently picked the virus up in france from another british person, already confirmed as infected. and this morning, the last uk evacuation flight this morning, the last uk evacuation flight out of the chinese city of wuhan, epicentre of the virus, touched down at raf brize norton, carrying around 200 british and foreign nationals. we have not got everybody out, we know that. unfortunately, two people failed temperature checks early this morning, they have had to go back into wuhan. a convoy of buses transported those british citizens who made it back to a hotel and conference centre in milton keynes. at of china, but still not in the clear. we understand that there are about 150 passengers on these

coaches who have now been evacuated from wuhan. all of them are, for the moment, we are told by nhs staff, in good health. this will be the home, though, for the next two weeks, where they will be kept in isolation. the coronavirus has now killed more than 800 people, surpassing the number who died from sa rs surpassing the number who died from sars back in 2003. more than 37,000 people are known to be affected across the globe, a figure that continues to rise sharply. the question remains as to whether we are ina question remains as to whether we are in a life phase and the rate of infection may pick up, or whether we are seeing more what is the natural history of the disease. and it is way too soon to tell that. but it is why these clusters are very u nfortu nate why these clusters are very unfortunate and we feel critically sorry forfamilies unfortunate and we feel critically sorry for families who get caught up in this. it's very, very frightening time. those now in quarantine here in the uk face an anxious wait and, globally, there is no sense the

coronavirus crisis is anywhere near to an end. so, 150 people in quarantine milton keynes, that is on top of 100 people still in isolation up top of 100 people still in isolation up on the wirral. the news this morning from majorca that a british man has also tested positive for coronavirus. his wife and two daughters, though, have been given the all clear. mccarty reporting there from milton keynes. ——jon donnison. as i mentioned earlier, passengers have been allowed to disembark a cruise ship which was under quarantine in hong kong. 0ur correspondent nick beake has been speaking to some of them. these are some of the passengers now being allowed off the ship, how was it on board, sir? clearly, a pretty difficult time. for the past four days, they haven't been able to leave the ship, but now passengers are coming out and the is, even reason though there are about 40 people on board who said they had the fever and flu—like symptoms, they have all been tested and it turns out no one has the new

coronavirus. so they are making their way to the taxes and going on to their homes, wherever that may be. the reason people were concerned is that there was a previous cruise involving the same ship last month and eight people tested positive for the new coronavirus, so that was the concern. but the authorities in hong kong tonight has said there was no cause for alarm and there is a lot of media attention, particularly local camera crews talking to people about what it has been like to this chip. —— the ship. we have been speaking to two of them. charlotte, you are finally! yes, finally on the ground. how does that feel? we were on board the ship. actually, most of the facilities are closed. so most of the time, we need to just stay in our room. and what do you do now, where will you go? home. we are so happy, tonight, we go home. and

tomorrow, to work. yes. of course, in contrast, there is another ship injapan off the in contrast, there is another ship in japan off the coast where many people had tested for the coronavirus. but in terms of the people who have been stuck on the ship here in hong kong, good news tonight, they are now going home to theirfamilies. nick tonight, they are now going home to their families. nick reporting tonight, they are now going home to theirfamilies. nick reporting on those passengers who have now been allowed to disembark after they were given the all clear. well, chinese authorities are making plans for millions of people to return to work, after an extended lunar new year break due to the coronavirus. the outbreak has brought large parts of the country to a halt and threatens china's already slowing economy. with me now is our business correspondent, katy austin. katy, does this mean things will get back to normal? well, very slowly. the longer the world ‘s second biggest economy remains half shut, the bigger the impact on the economy both domestically and internationally will be. and tomorrow, we will start to see a return of workers after the extended holiday over the chinese new year, extended obviously because

of the coronavirus in an attempt to contain it. the government says it really wa nts contain it. the government says it really wants workers in key sectors like for example food and medical supplies to get back tomorrow. there will then be a phased return of others, to try and prevent any infection spreading. so that is the picture within china. what about internationally? so much a china's economic activity is driven by demand from overseas and of course, it is more and more engaged with the outside world not just it is more and more engaged with the outside world notjust in terms of tourism and business, but also the political links as well. yes, of all countries, china's economy does not exist in a vacuum. we can't underestimate the impact within the country are businesses who have suffered from the lack of movement being imposed on certain areas, particularly the leisure industry. you would normally want to see lots of customers over the holidays going to restaurants for of customers over the holidays going to restau ra nts for exa m ple, of customers over the holidays going to restaurants for example, so it has been a really big hit. but as one ratings agency snp pointed out, any hit on china's economy really

does have a butterfly effect. it says eve n does have a butterfly effect. it says even a 1% slowdown in economic growth could affect lots of countries, the global economy. in particular, we think about the electronics industry and the automotive industry, cars. in both those industries, china is a really big supplier. so when we talk about tomorrow and a return to work, some factories won't reopen and that will affect the supply chain. ford is one car—maker who says its factories will reopen tomorrow, but a lot of others won't. yesterday, volkswagen said its factories won't start again for another week. and already we have seen in packs elsewhere. for example, the oil price has been affected and stock markets had been down compared to a couple of weeks ago. but we really won't know the overall impact of this until it is clear again when things can properly get back to normal. katy austin, thank you very much. the headlines on bbc news: storm ciara hits the uk — causing widespread disruption.

the whole of the uk is under either a yellow or amber weather warning and 12,000 people are without power. travel has been badly affected and flights and rail services are being cancelled. there is widespread flooding and a severe warning, meaning a danger to life, has been issued in north yorkshire. and in sport... england's cricketers are heading for victory in the final one—dayer against south africa. they are chasing 257 for victory in johannesburg. they are 241—6. joe denly made 66, a win will see them draw the three—match series. sheffield united are drawing 1—1 with bournemouth in the premier league. united equalising through billy sharpe, just before half time, after callum wilson had put bournemouth ahead. and france are looking to make it two wins out of two in the six nations championship. they are playing italy at the stade de france and teddy thomas has

scored an early try and they lead 8—nil. that matches live on bbc one and i will have an update in the next hour. the thai prime minister says the soldier who shot dead 26 people overnight began his attack because of a dispute over a house sale. the gunman was killed by soldiers, after murdering 26 people and wounding 57. the youngest victim was 13 years old. thousands of mourners have gathered for a vigil in the thai city of nakhon ratchasima. buddhist monks chanted prayers for the victims in the city's main square. aaron safir reports. a 15—hour stand—off finally over. thai security forces emerged from the terminal 21 shopping mall in the city of nakhon ratchasima. a lone gunman shot dead, but not before he took many lives. for a long time, it wasn't clear how this stand—off would end.

hundreds of people enjoying a weekend shopping managed to escape the rampaging gunman, but an earlier attempt to flush him out failed, with one member of the security forces killed. inside, people ran and hid wherever they could, as news of the attack spread. translation: i saw the security guard officials and a motorcycle taxi driver running for shelter. i didn't know what was going on, and then i heard people shouting, "they're shooting, there's a shooting!" police have identified the gunman as 32—year—old jakraphanth thomma, a junior army officer. he was caught on cctv at the shopping mall, moving with an eerie calm. but his rampage began elsewhere, at an army base, where he killed two people, including his commanding officer. he also stocked up on weapons and ammunition. and in the early hours of the attack, he posted messages on facebook saying, "death is inevitable for everyone," and at one point asking,

"should i give up?" the posts were quickly taken down, but not before they could be seen by people in the area, who are struggling to make sense of what they witnessed. there were bodies in the street, there were cars with bullet holes in them. and very graphic images on social media that were luckily taken down, but very graphic. thailand has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the world, but a mass shooting like this is something shocking and new for the country. with the shooting now over, questions will be asked about what motivated the attacker and how to prevent something like this happening again. aaron safir, bbc news. votes are being counted in ireland's general election, with an exit poll indicating a tie between the three main parties. the centre—right fine gael party — led by the prime minister, leo varadkar — is thought to have

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 correspondent, chris page, in dublin. the process of collating the votes and the distributing among the candidates is going to take a while. how long will we have to wait before it is clear what political colours the government is likely to be wearing? well, the actual count process as you say is certainly extremely complex, but what is becoming clear as a result of the telly figures being tarted up by party members down on the floor here for example in the main kent centre in dublin is that there has been a huge shift in irish politics in this election. this is because sinn fein is performing extremely strongly. until this point in the republic of ireland, two parties have dominated government for decades. they are two centre parties, fine gael led by the current coach mike leo varadkar and fianna fail led by the man he was thought to for most of the campaign

be his main challenge, micheal martin. but it looks like the surgeon martin. but it looks like the surgeon as sinn fein vote which was predicted in the exit poll has materialised. in leo varadkar‘s constituency in dublin, it looks like mccarty himself will not top the poll, although he will hold onto his seat, but the poll topper will be sinn fein candidate. so right across the country, we are seeing sinn fein taking ground. sinn fein themselves didn't expect to do quite so themselves didn't expect to do quite so well. that means that they have run so well. that means that they have ru n fewer so well. that means that they have run fewer candidates than their rivals. just 42 across 39 constituencies. so even if they come out on top in the number of first preference votes, this is a pr election, so people rate their candidates in numerical preference, evenif candidates in numerical preference, even if sinn fein do emerge the winner is in terms of the first preference vote, doesn't mean they will run out with the largest number of seats. that is still likely to be either fianna fail or fine gael. but the strength of the sinn fein performance here is really extremely significant. chris page, dublin, thank you.

hollywood stars will be on the red carpet tonight for the oscars. the world war one epic 1917, and south korea's parasite are the frontrunners to be named best picture, but much of the build—up has been dominated by criticism over the lack of diversity. sophie long looks at what we can expect. you have a brother in the 2nd battalion? yes, sir. 1917, sir sam mendes' unblinking vision of war, is a frontrunner for best picture. mendes has been nominated for best director. his competition comes from quentin tarantino, for his love letter to los angeles in the ‘60s, once upon a time in hollywood. bong joon—ho for parasite — a dark, violent look at south korean class. and todd phillips, for his controversial dark thrillerjoker, which leads the pack with 11 nominations. this is meg, amy, beth and jo. the line—up for best director is all male, something that

has not gone unnoticed. to see my beloved greta gerwig make money at the box office with a film titled little women is enormously fantastic news and may mean more than any accolade could mean, in terms of women in this industry. but cynthia erivo is the only person of colour to have been nominated in any of the four main acting categories for her performance in harriet. there will always be some controversy surrounding 0scar nominations but, on sunday night, there will be a massive celebration of film and fashion, as this part of hollywood boulevard is transformed into one of the biggest catwalks in the whole of the world. sophie long, bbc news, hollywood. sophie is well geared up for the evening's festivities in los angeles and we will have coverage throughout the evening on bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with susan powell.

storm ciara continues to batter the uk and allareas storm ciara continues to batter the uk and all areas have already been affected by the severe weather with the potential for a further peak in the potential for a further peak in the wind is early evening. the met office has an amber warning for severe gales across england and wales, but central scotland may see gusts in excess of 85 mph through the early part of the evening. showers start to finish out further into the evening and then overnight, they mostly concentrate to the north of the uk. we will notice they turn white. colder air floating of the uk. we will notice they turn white. colder airfloating behind ciara. there is ciara pushing into scandinavia to start the new week, but the isobars stay tightly packed, there is no letup in the winds and there is no letup in the winds and the other big change is we feed in much colder air at right the way across the uk. so a chilly feel for monday, a risk of ice in the north with the wintry showers, accumulations of snow possible above 100, 150 metres, showers of rain to the south.

hello this is bbc news with shaun ley. the headlines: storm ciara hits the uk — 12,000 people are without power and there is severe travel disruption across the country. there is widespread flooding and a severe warning mean a danger to life, has been issued in north yorkshire. at times, the gusts are so strong you are almost blown off your feet and in the past few minutes we've also had lashing rain into the mix, too. 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. counting is underway in the irish general election as an exit poll puts the three main political parties level pegging. now on bbc news, it's time for a look back at the week