Storm Darragh: Belfast Christmas market and other events cancelled

A growing number of festive events in Northern Ireland are being cancelled this weekend amid the approach of Storm Darragh.

The whole island is affected by the second highest level of weather warning.

Belfast’s Christmas market is among Saturday’s closures and other councils are assessing events in their areas. The Christmas market remains open on Friday.

A yellow warning for wind and rain came into force at 15:00 on Friday with the rain warning expiring at 12:00 on Saturday. The wind warning will stay in place until 06:00 on Sunday.

An amber warning for wind, which is more severe, has been issued for Northern Ireland from 01:00 GMT on Saturday until 21:00 on Saturday.

Red alerts have been issued by Met Éireann, the Republic of Ireland’s weather service, for the west coast of Ireland.

The highest level of warning has been issued for Mayo, Clare, Galway, Donegal, Leitrim, Wicklow and Sligo.

The red alert is set to come into force for several hours on Friday night as the highest gusts hit the west coast.

Storm Darragh is the fourth named storm of the season, following storms Ashley, Bert and Conall.

The strongest winds will reach the west coast of Ireland on Friday night before moving east across the island.

The Met Office is expecting gusts around the coast of Northern Ireland to reach speeds about 80mph (130km/h) from early on Saturday morning.

That is when Friday’s yellow warning will be temporarily upgraded to amber.

Gusts between 60-70mph (100-115km/h) are likely inland before winds ease from the west through Saturday afternoon.

The Met Office has also issued a red warning for wind for parts of Wales and the Bristol Channel area of England on Saturday.

Met Éireann has issued its second highest level of warning for wind, Status Orange, across the country from Friday evening.

It is set stay in place until 10:00 on Saturday, but a yellow warning for wind will remain in place until 15:00.

ESB Networks in the Republic of Ireland is asking customers to prepare in the event of losing their electricity supply if their area is affected by Storm Darragh. This includes torches, spare batteries and having phones charged.

Belfast City Council has said the closure of the Christmas market at city hall on Saturday would be “disappointing” but added that “the safety of our visitors and traders is of the utmost importance”.

It plans to reopen on Sunday if the weather permits.

One of the traders, Lisa Walsh, said it was “unfortunate because most of the traders” at the market “rely on the Saturday”.

“That is really where they might make a wage for themselves,” she told BBC News NI.

“Yesterday was really really poor, so the general consensus in the market was that ‘sure it’ll be fine because Saturday will get us over the line’.

“So, I think a lot of the traders are pretty upset.”

Artist Shauna Fox said Saturday is “our best day”.

“To hear that Saturday is not going to happen anymore is obviously a big blow,” she said.

The Christmas fair in Saintfield which was due to take place on Friday evening has also been cancelled.

Usually the County Down village would be packed with hundreds of people enjoying various forms of entertainment and the Christmas lights switch on.

Robin Martin, who owns two businesses in the village, was due to perform at the event.

“It is just one of those things unfortunately,” he said.

“There’s nothing that can be done and we just have to take it on the chin.”

Ards and North Down Borough Council has cancelled its Christmas weekend at Cockle Row Cottages in Groomsport.

Belfast City Council has also said all its grass and 3G pitches will be closed from Friday for the weekend.

All its parks and playgrounds will be closed on Saturday and the council is asking the public not to visit Bog Meadows, Cavehill Country Park and its other open spaces.

Belfast Zoo will be closed over the weekend as will the council’s cemeteries and crematorium grounds. Scheduled burials and cremations will proceed as normal.

The Enchanted Winter Gardens at Antrim Castle has been also cancelled on Friday and Saturday.

Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council has closed a number of outdoor recreation sites and warned the public not to walk along cliff paths, harbour piers, forest or woodland park areas during this period.

Facilities will be closed across Derry and Strabane council area, including parks, recycling centres and outdoor sports and leisure facilities.

The council also said that the weather could have an impact on street cleaning and waste services.

No scheduled sports activities at outdoor facilities will go ahead on Saturday.

Derry and Strabane council said cemeteries will open for burials only on Saturday.

Fermanagh and Omagh District Council said that a number of events planned for Saturday had been cancelled.

Lisburn and Castlereagh Council said a number of events in its Christmas programme would be delayed due to the weather, including the Dundonald Christmas Market.

It’s closing parks and open spaces including cemeteries from 17:00 on Friday and will remain closed on Saturday.

Its three recycling centres are closed from 17:00 on Friday and will reopen on Monday.

Newry Mourne and Down District Council has rescheduled the Christmas craft activities which were due to take place in Castlewellan Forest Park on Saturday.

National Trust Mid Ulster has cancelled its Twilight Market on Friday and day one of their Christmas Fair on Saturday, which were due to take place in the Argory in Dungannon.

All council public parks, forest sites and play parks across Mid Ulster council area will be closed for the duration of the warnings. The council is advising the public to avoid using open spaces and areas where there are trees.

Household recycling centres in the area will be closed on Saturday and street cleansing will also be paused.

You can get a full list of the facilities affected here.

In the Mid and East Antrim council area, Sentry Hill, Memorial Park and Bracknamuckley Wood in Ballymena will be closed from Friday until Sunday morning.

Newry Mourne and Down District Council said that four forest country parks as well as Warrenpoint Park, would be closed to cars and pedestrians from Friday afternoon until Sunday.

A number of flights from Belfast International Airport and Belfast City Airport have been delayed on Friday evening.

Stena Line has warned that some sailings between Belfast/Dublin and Great Britain and between the Republic and France are now cancelled.

Its 22:20 GMT and 10:30 GMT sailings from Belfast to Liverpool have been cancelled.

Multiple sailings from Belfast to Cairnryan on Saturday have also been cancelled.

P&O Ferries has said its sailings from both Larne and Cairnryan have been cancelled on Saturday.

The Department for Infrastructure said that monitoring of river levels and sea levels has been ongoing and will continue until the weather warning has elapsed.