Record high winds from Storm Eowyn battered Ireland and Northern Ireland on Friday, leaving almost one-third of Irish homes and businesses without power and forcing cancellation of hundreds of flights and the closure of schools and public transport.

Millions of people in Ireland and northern parts of the U.K. are being urged to stay at home as hurricane-force winds disabled power networks and brought widespread travel disruptions.

Hundreds of flights are canceled and ground transportation is suspended as a severe winter storm sweeps across the UK and Ireland on Friday.

The storm had knocked out power to more than half a million utility customers by early Friday as it moved across Ireland.

Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland are braced for a storm spiraling in from the Atlantic, bringing gusts of up to 100 m.p.h., with forecasters warning of a danger to life.

PA, James Heneghan

Record high winds from Storm Eowyn battered Ireland and Northern Ireland on Friday, leaving 560,000 homes and businesses without power and forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights and the closure of schools and public transport.

The storm brought record-breaking winds as it battered Ireland, Scotland and northern England on Friday. Hundreds of thousands of electricity customers were in the dark.

Status red wind warnings are in effect across Ireland after Storm Éowyn made landfall overnight. The entire island is now under a Status Red wind alert, after Co Donegal and Northern Ireland came under the warning at 7am.