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 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.