More than four million people across Northern Ireland and Scotland received emergency alerts on their phones in the “largest real-life use of the tool to date”, as a damaging storm with winds of up to 100mph bears down on the UK.

Met Eireann has issued status red warnings for wind covering the entire country, which will come into effect from the early hours of Friday morning. The worst of Storm Eowyn is expected to hit the south and east of the country in the early hours, with gusts reaching up to 130kph, including inland.