Ireland has been hit with record wind gusts of 114 miles (183 kilometers) an hour as a winter storm batters the country and northern parts of the U.K. Schools have been closed, trains halted and hundreds of flights canceled in the Republic of Ireland,

Storm Eowyn Friday continued to cause power outages for hundreds of thousands, knocked down trees and disrupted transportation as it moved across Scotland and Northern Ireland into Britain's West Midlands region.

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

About 40,000 people in Scotland remained without electricity on Saturday night in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn and some may have to wait several days before it is restored, according to an energy distribution director.