EMERGENCY alerts have been issued by the government ahead of the damaging winds Storm Darragh is forecasted to bring across parts of Somerset and the wider region tomorrow morning (Saturday, December 7).

Thousands of people across the county will have received a ‘severe alert’ message from around 6.45pm after a rare ‘red’ wind warning was issued by the the Met Office.

The warning area takes in West Somerset, the Bristol Channel, and South and West Wales and is in place from 3am until 11am tomorrow (Saturday, December 11).

Mobile phones will have sounded and vibrated for about 10 seconds, with a message directed at affected residents stating: “The storm may damage infrastructure causing power cuts and disruption to mobile phone coverage.

“Consider gathering torches, batteries, a mobile phone, power pack and other essential items you already have at home.”

The areas covered by the alert include:

Met Office Chief ForecasterJason Kelly said: “The worst impacts from Storm Darragh will be felt as we go through the early hours of tomorrow morning and throughout Saturday with, in addition to the broad yellow warning, red and amber wind warnings in place from 1 am tomorrow.

“In the red warning area, we could see wind gusts of up to 90 miles per hour along the coasts of west and south Wales as well as funnelling through the Bristol Channel, with some very large waves on exposed beaches.”