The latest named weather bomb, Storm Eowyn, has already set a wind speed record as 114mph gales were recorded in Ireland, forecasters have said – with the full brunt of the storm now arriving in the UK

Storm Éowyn has smashed records with 114mph winds recorded in Ireland.

Met Éireann revealed that the old record of 182km/h (113mph) from back in 1945 at Foynes, County Limerick, has likely been toppled by a new gust of 183km/h clocked at Mace Head in County Galway at 5am today.

The Irish weather experts have declared: “This is provisionally the strongest gust speed ever recorded in Ireland.”

A fierce red warning for wind is in force across both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, with schools shutting their doors, buses and trains grinding to a halt, and warnings about danger to life, downed power lines, damaged buildings and power cuts.

The Electricity Supply Board (ESB) is bracing for even more chaos as Storm Éowyn rages on. Meanwhile, Dublin Airport has cancelled more than 220 flights for Friday, and the police in Northern Ireland are calling it a major incident, bracing for the worst weather since the 1998 Boxing Day storm that wreaked havoc.

Speaking out amid severe weather warnings, Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly have issued a stern warning to citizens, reports the Mirror.

In Belfast on Thursday, Ms O’Neill described the situation as an “evolving situation” and one they are “very closely monitoring.”

“But the key message is to stay safe, to look after yourself, to look after your family and to look after your friends and check in on those people who are more vulnerable,” she insisted. Ms Little-Pengelly emphasized that experienced emergency teams are prepped and ready for what’s set to be savage storms blasting through on Friday.

“A red alert has been issued for the entire of Northern Ireland. This is highly unusual, this means between 7am and 2pm tomorrow there is a likelihood of widespread disruption, danger to life and damage to buildings, and our strong advice and the advice of the PSNI is to stay at home if at all possible.”