Dartford Bridge shut due to Storm Franklin 90mph gales causing huge queues

RUSH hour traffic has been plunged into chaos with delays been building up after the Dartford Crossing was forced shut amid Storm Franklin battering the UK.

Two lanes on the M25 Dartford Crossing have closed between junctions 1A A206 and J31 A103G, for Lakeside/Purfleet.

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A yellow wind warning has been issued today for the Met Office, with the closure understood to have been caused by strong winds.

The QEII Bridge has been closed due to the winds of up to 90mph this morning.

A tornado warning is in place as the third devastating storm in just five days slammed into the UK overnight.

The right-hand tunnel at Dartford is being used as a diversion for traffic developing for the QE2 Bridge.

The left-hand tunnel remains open, with mounting traffic and queues either way because of the closure.

Congestion has also been reported to Junction two of the M25 and delays from A2 stretch back to Northfleet, adding to journey times.

This morning, National Rail told people to avoid rail travel if possible today – and say that even when services resume, there’ll be “major disruption” to routes “across most of Great Britain”.

Almost every rail company in the country, including the Heathrow Express, Stansted Express, Cross Country and Thameslink, says its trains will be affected.

South Western Railway says the weather conditions were “likely to hamper efforts to help stranded customers”.

TransPennine Express is strongly urging customers to “avoid travel if possible”, particularly those planning to travel north of Preston in Lancashire before 10am.

The latest weather misery comes after ferocious Storm Eunice killed four people and plunged 1.3m homes into darkness on Friday, and Storm Dudley wrecked homes and cars last week.

It’s the first time since significant storms were given names back in 2015 that three have followed in such a short space of time.

Franklin, an 800-mile wide squall, will bring “severe and damaging gusts” and torrential downpours, The Met Office warned.

An amber warning for wind was in place across Northern Ireland from midnight until 7am. It has now lapsed.

Yellow warnings cover the whole of England and Wales and parts of Scotland until 1pm on Monday.

Intense downpours have already caused dangerous flooding in some parts overnight.

There are currently two rare “severe” flood warnings in place near the River Mersey – alongside 315 other flood alerts.

Yorkshire was expected to be one of the worst-hit places.

The River Don burst its banks in Doncaster, South Yorks, on Sunday night – and police have warned people to stay away from dangerous “fast flowing” water.

More than 400 homes have already been evacuated in south Manchester ahead of expected deluges.

The severe rainfall could cause danger to life as the River Mersey swells in Greater Manchester, experts said.

And in Northern Ireland, Londonderry and Tyrone will be hit with the worst flooding as the torrent continues.

In Shropshire, the River Severn has been threatening to burst its banks with emergency teams erecting flood barriers along the waterway – while several areas in Wales are expected to flood.

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