why is he to the united states. why is he here, why does it matter? because this is a hugely important, symbolic day for france, french people, a large amount of shock and horror reverberated around the country five years ago when the fire tore through the cathedral. the 840 million euros it has taken to reconstruct the cathedral has come from donors around the world. it has come from countries around the world. that is why in many ways it's reopening is notjust for france in paris, it is for the globe, for everyone. we all remember where we were on april 15, 2019 when the fire took hold of the roof of notre dame, thatis hold of the roof of notre dame, that is one of the reasons why this is so important. we are

still waiting for president volodymyr zelensky of ukraine to arrive as well. he is due to meet with president macron and our after he meets with —— an hour after he meets president—elect trump, and that will be interesting, an interesting meeting between the two men given everything that has happened and everything we have seen and heard from president—elect trump in terms of what he said about the war in ukraine and what he said about the war in russia. the prince of wales is also due to attend the opening ceremony and he too will be holding a meeting, i hear, with president macron, and he will also be meeting present electron as well as some point. you can see that the rain has well and truly taken hold. —— president electron as well. there are still huge crowds along the

river send hoping to catch a glimpse of the opening ceremonial. i want to give you an idea of what will happen later on. we will have three different parts of the ceremony, there will be a religious party, a secular part and also a cultural one. the importance of that is because the cathedral is not only a catholic symbol, the heart of catholicism in this country, but also a symbol of france itself. it is considered by many the heart of the nation. i will go back to you now in the studio briefly, i believe, and i await the arrival of other world leaders. it is probably best because i'm about to be blown away by this umbrella. back to you. blown away by this umbrella. back to vom— blown away by this umbrella. back to you. you look like you are about _ back to you. you look like you are about to _ back to you. you look like you are about to take _ back to you. you look like you are about to take off. - back to you. you look like you are about to take off. paris i are about to take off. paris does not have a lot of luck with these big occasions and the weather, the paris 0lympics were somewhat 40 by bad weather. we will return to paris in a little while. a man

has died after a tree fell on his van in the north west of england because of storm darragh. he was in his 40s and driving along a dual carriageway in lancashire. 0ur correspondent is joining us from salford. tell us more about this accident. fix, about this accident. lancashire police investigation is under way now after the police force was called at around 9am this morning to the a59 at longton near preston. the man in his 40s was driving his citroen van on the jewel carriageway when the tree fell on top of his vehicle. his next—of—kin have been informed and are being supported by specialist police officers. lancashire police have said very sadly this incident has resulted in the death of a man and their thoughts are with his loved ones at this time. lancashire of course one of the areas covered by the amber

warnings still, right down the north—west coast of england. we still have amber warnings in place going inland until about 9pm. place going inland until about 9m. . ~ place going inland until about 9m, ., ~' , ., , place going inland until about 9m. ., ~' , ., , . 0ur correspondent, hywel griffith, is in penarth in south wales. he's been giving us more details about the affect of storm darragh in wales. the wind may have dropped here in south wales but the impact of storm darragh is still clear to see. 0vernight, there were gusts of over 90 miles an hour in parts of north wales. we have seen fallen trees around the country, a few roofs even damaged overnight. the impact on transport has meant road closures on the a470, the main road linking north and south wales, and the two bridges over the river severn that connect england and wales as well. cardiff airport had to close its runway. 80,000 homes have been left without power. the electricity companies say they're working, trying their best to reconnect

people during the day. but now really attention is turning to the rainfall that is expected over the next 12 or so hours. there are 21 flood warnings in different corners of the country as i speak and there is concern because the ground is already saturated following heavy rain over the last two weeks. natural resources wales warning that floods could follow and that debris in the rivers could bring risks as well. so the impact of storm darragh is likely to be with us for hours, potentially days ahead. let's go back to paris and we saw a few moments ago emmanuel macron, president of france, greeting very vigorously the president—elect of the united states, donald trump, here they are inside the elysee palace ahead of the ceremonial reopening of notre dame

cathedral. this is donald trump's first foreign trip since winning the real action last month. as we saw they embrace and show fans on the steps of the presidential palace. mrtrump steps of the presidential palace. mr trump was given a full guard of honour, resuming a relationship from several years ago which was often rather tense during mr trump as my first term in office. —— mr trump's first term in office. this is a tricky time for the french president of course and comes as france enters a period of some considerable uncertainty with michel barnier�*s government falling on wednesdayjust gone, and a replacement is yet to be announced. let's return to storm darragh and the effects it is having in the uk. a short time ago, we spoke to nickjohnson. he's in the english seaside town of weston—super—mare. it's still very, very windy, martine.

i'm sort of struggling to keep myself upright at the moment. that red warning meaning a danger to life, that has now expired for this part of the world as well for weston—super—mare and the rest of the somerset coast and south west england. but that amber warning still for strong winds in place until around 9:00 this evening. now, there are still some people, mostly dog walkers, up and down the seafront here, but businesses largely have closed. seaside bars, restaurants and even the pier. they were all due to be open today. they were saying they were planning on opening, but a little later. we can see at the moment that those businesses remain closed. there's also a seaside ice rink which has closed for the day as well. the tarpaulin roof cover has been partially ripped off. we've also seen some footage from bridgwater, another town in somerset a little further down the coast. a block of flats and some roofing has been ripped off the top of those

flats by the wind. so while that red warning has expired, these gusts are still continuing and it feels like they are going to continue for the rest of the day and into tomorrow as well. and with that high wind comes the inevitable travel disruption, the inevitable headaches that people are facing trying to get around southwest england, be that on the train or also on the road as well. train services from here, from weston—super—mare, are largely delayed or cancelled. from other parts of the southwest, a lot of those services are also not running. gwr, the rail operator, has urged people only to travel if absolutely necessary. cardiff airport, as you heard, has had to close its runway for most of the morning and bristol airport, severe disruption there as well. many flights cancelled today. it's just too windy at the moment for those planes to attempt take—offs

and landings and it does feel like, as i say, those gusts continuing certainly for the rest of the day and probably into tomorrow as well. jon kay is at the bbc�*s media centre in cardiff and sent us this report. well, normally, at this time on a saturday morning a couple of weeks before christmas, the centre of cardiff would be really busy with people arriving for christmas shopping or to open their shops or their christmas market stalls, but right now, as you can see, and i'm holding my phone with both hands because it is so windy, there's hardly anybody out. lots of those businesses aren't opening, this morning at least, sports events have been cancelled. the trains, there's the station behind me, not running normal services and the bridges across the river severn, the bristol channel, they are not operating at the moment either. it's a very weird feeling for a saturday morning. let's take a look at some

pictures of the destruction storm darragh has brought. thiere's been a number of number of fallen trees ——there's been... ..across the country — this was in cardiff. huge waves have also hit the seafront in porthcawl in wales. this tree has come down in oxford street, burnham—on—sea. the storm has also brought destruction to areas all along the coasts of south and north—west wales. simon harnaman, from redland in bristol, was woken in the middle of the night by his 16—year—old son who had heard a "loud screech and an enormous crack". and this is what simon they saw when they looked outside — the family car, which had just come back from a two—week spell at the garage, covered by a large tree. the seaside town of porthcawl, in bridgend county, often gets battered with strong winds. usually, they bring huge waves crashing over the front. but on friday night, storm darragh also saw a section of roof from this property at rest bay torn off. and there's been plenty of travel disruption — on the roads as well as rail services being affeted. awful conditions in many parts

of the uk, not least wales. you watching bbc news. —— you are watching bbc news. —— you are watching bbc news. —— you are watching bbc news. storm darragh has caused widespread travel disruption and power cuts too, particularly across wales and the western side of england. now, the met office red warning that was in force has now expired. but we do still have this amber warning. we will still see gusts of 70 to 80mph or more in these western areas. so there remains a danger to life and certainly the threat of further significant disruption because of the strength of the wind. not only wind — there's a lot of rain out there as well. a met office amber warning in force for some of these parts of south wales. 80—90mm of rain looking likely. here is the culprit. here is storm darragh. this swirl of cloud on the satellite picture. it's around this southern flank of the storm where we have been seeing the strongest of the winds. 0ur area of low pressure

continuing to track eastwards this afternoon, slowly filling and weakening, but still bringing some very strong winds. wind gusts widely 50mph, 60mph, but stronger than that in some spots even by the end of the afternoon. still some pretty heavy rain falling as well, especially across eastern parts. a little bit drier out towards the west. and those are the afternoon temperatures. now, during this evening and tonight our storm system will continue to push away eastwards. we'll continue to see some heavy rain and strong winds, particularly, i think, across parts of southeast scotland. northeast england, could be some very gusty conditions here for a time. further north and west, some clear spells, some showers, could be some wintriness over high ground. i think the strength of the wind will stop it getting too cold overnight, but it certainly will be a chilly start to sunday morning. storm darragh easing away to the east. still though, some pretty brisk winds, especially across these eastern and southern parts of the uk as we go through the day. still some very gusty conditions, there could still be a little bit of disruption and some rain easing across the southeastern parts as well.

further north and west, some sunny spells, just the odd shower. these are the kinds of wind gusts we're expecting through into sunday afternoon. and temperatures, well, with this northerly wind it is going to feel pretty cold out there. single digit temperatures for just about all of us. through the week ahead, well, things do look a little bit calmer. still quite breezy. a lot of dry weather around, some showers, a lot of mist and murk and low cloud as well.

live from london. this is bbc news. syrian rebels are bearing down on the capital damascus from the north and south, amid little resistance from president assad's forces. south korea's opposition fails in its effort to impeach president yoon suk yeol for his short—lived declaration of martial law. i'm live in notre dame in paris, as parisians, the french nation and the world await the reopening ceremony, five years after a fire devastated much of the cathedral�*s roof. and ahead of that ceremony, us president—elect donald trump has been meeting with the french president emmanuel macron. it is the us president's first trip abroad since his election victory last month.