Strong winds shut down schools, disrupt traffic in Scotland

Strong winds have forced school closures and disrupted traffic across Scotland after Storm Gertrude swept into Britain on Friday.

Savage winds up to 144 miles (about 230 km) per hour were recorded in mountainous areas and parts of Scotland were hit by a bitter temperature of minus 15 Celsius degrees, local media reported.

Schools were shut in Western Isles, while many trains, flights and ferries have been cancelled. Thousands of households in Northern Ireland were left without power.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency issued more than 40 flood warnings, while the British Meteorology Office issued a red weather warning, the most severe, for Shetland in northeast Scotland. Enditem