At least 200 flights have been cancelled as Storm Ciara is set to batter the UK later today with heavy rain and winds of more than 80mph.

Storm Ciara warnings have been issued across the country for Sunday amid forecasts of very strong gusts and the risk of heavy flooding.

Ciara is the country’s biggest storm in seven years.

“Wet and very windy #weather will spread across northern and western areas of the #UK as #StormCiara approaches.

Warnings are in force,” the Met Office stated tweeted late on Saturday.

Here's a reminder of the #wind warnings in force for today due to #StormCiara#WeatherAware pic.twitter.com/3QTZMqxvjW

— Met Office (@metoffice) February 9, 2020

Rail companies in England, Scotland and Wales have urged passengers not to travel.

They say they will operate reduced timetables and speed restrictions throughout the day.

The firms which have issued do not travel warnings are Gatwick Express, Grand Central, Great Northern, Hull Trains, LNER, Northern, Southeastern, Southern, Thameslink and TransPennine Express.

According to Emirates, “Due to expected severe weather conditions in London this flight (EK029) has been cancelled.

We are in the process of rebooking the flights to final destination and will send updated itinerary shortly.”

On Sunday, tornado warnings are up and the Met Office issued amber alerts overnight.

Ciara is expected to dump heavy rain, which may lead to flooding in the North while hurricane-force winds are expected to sweep across much of the country.

Flights also disrupted in and out of Gatwick, Glasgow, Manchester and Liverpool airports, according to British media.