The Isle of Man Met Office has today (Friday 04 December) issued a red weather warning to highlight the risk of structural damage and flooding as a result of storm force winds and heavy rain.

Winds are forecast to increase in strength from mid-afternoon today, with gusts tonight reaching 70 to 80 miles per hour. The severe gales will continue into Saturday, with winds up to 85mph possible in the north of the Island during the peak of the storm between lunchtime and late afternoon.

This has the potential to bring down trees and cause structural damage to buildings and infrastructure.

Further outbreaks of heavy rain will develop overnight and continue at times on Saturday, with totals of 20-25mm expected in lower lying areas and 25-40mm over the hills. Further localised flooding is likely as many parts of the Island are already saturated, but conditions are not expected to be on the same scale as Thursday.

The advice from the emergency services is to avoid making any non-essential journeys on Friday night and during the day on Saturday.

Public transport will be maintained and passengers should check times and routes ahead of travelling.

The severe gales will result in waves breaking onto seafronts and exposed coastal locations around the times of high tides at 5.45pm on Friday, and 06.52am and 6.53pm on Saturday. The areas most affected will be Shore Road in Gansey, Castletown Promenade, the northern end of Douglas Promenade, Fenella Beach/Castle Causeway in Peel and possibly Laxey Promenade.

The tides are relatively small, so while there will be some splash over and debris, coastal flooding is not expected.

The emergency services, Department of Infrastructure, Manx Utilities and Civil Defence volunteers are working in partnership to keep the people of the Island safe.

Crews were on duty through the night on Thursday into Friday morning to clear large areas of standing water around the Island and the clean-up operation is continuing today.

The Emergency Service Joint Control Room dealt with 1,225 calls and 177 emergency 999 calls between 2pm on Thursday and 6am on Friday. The Department of Infrastructure also handled hundreds of calls and dispatched staff to respond to incidents around the Island.

Infrastructure staff are currently working to clear and reopen the Mountain Road following a land slip that deposited 750 tonnes of debris onto the highway. Other priorities include Peel Road and the Laxey to Ramsey coast road, while work is continuing at Pulrose Bridge.

Motorists undertaking essential journeys are urged to adhere to all road closures and show consideration to staff who are working to alleviate the problems. Priority will be given to keeping main routes open in the event of any further flooding or storm damage.

Organisers of events, club meetings and sporting fixtures scheduled for Friday night and Saturday are being encouraged to consider the weather warnings and make an informed decision on whether or not to go ahead.

The National Sports Centre is closed as a result of Thursday’s flooding.

People are urged to stay out of flood water and also to check on elderly or vulnerable neighbours if it is safe to do so.

Sandbags have been distributed to numerous locations around the Island and can be collected from civic amenity sites and DoI’s Ellerslie depot in Crosby.

Weather and flooding reports are available on the Government website athttps://www.gov.im/weather/

 andhttps://www.gov.im/transport/floodwatch/

 and via the Floodline (recorded message) 686100.

Operational updates will be provided by the local media and by the emergency services, Department of Infrastructure, Manx Utilities and Public Transport on Twitter. Follow @TweetbeatIOM @ionmfire @iominfra @iombusandrail and @manx_utilities