Travel chaos as major storm blasts into UK SCORES of trains, flights and ferry services across the UK were cancelled on Sunday night in anticipation of one of the worst storms to batter England and Wales for more than five years. Forecasters warned that winds of more than 80mph south of the Border could leave a trail of destruction, bringing down trees and damaging buildings, leading to power cuts and transport chaos. Although Scotland looked set to escape the worst of the weather, travel problems are still expected today for rail and flight passengers. On Sunday night, police were searching for a 14-year-old boy swept away while swimming in a stormy sea at Newhaven, East Sussex. Elsewhere, high winds caused an 89ft wind turbine to blow over in a field at Higher Rixdale Farm at Luton, near Teignmouth, Devon. Commuters are expected to wake up to major travel disruption as forecasters predict heavy rain and hurricane-force winds will sweep across swathes of the country. East Coast rail passengers travelling between Scotland and London face significant disruption, with trains cancelled and up to two hours added to journeys this morning. Some flights have also been cancelled and others delayed, while a number of ferry services have been disrupted by high winds. Network Rail warned that trains would be halted if wind speeds exceeded "safe levels," while there could be further problems from fallen leaves on the tracks by Tuesday morning. East Coast, which runs trains between Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness, Glasgow and London, has been ordered to cut speeds from 125mph to 50mph south of Peterborough from 5am to 10am today. About 48 of the operator's 155 daily trains will be cancelled. Edinburgh Airport, Scotland's busiest, said last night KLM had cancelled some flights to Amsterdam this morning and two British Airways flights to Heathrow last night were cancelled. In total, British Airways has cancelled 21 short-haul flights because of the severe weather. An airport spokesman said: "We are anticipating some delays and disruption to flights over the next 24 hours. We advise any passengers who are planning on flying to or from Edinburgh Airport to contact their airline. Ferry passengers on west coast routes have been warned of potential disruption, while last night Eurostar announced it would be unable to run any cross-Channel rail services until 7am this morning to allow the high-speed lines to be inspected. Ahead of the storm, Prime Minister David Cameron was updated on preparations and contingency planning for transport, schools, hospitals, councils and power supplies. The British Red Cross has teams ready to assist people stricken by the storm, and urged households to prepare for possible blackouts. The storm has been named St Jude, after the patron saint of lost causes, whose feast day is today. Blowing in from the Atlantic, the storm was expected to hit south-west England late last night, before moving north-east. The Met Office said the expected wind strength would be similar to storms in March 2008, January 2007 and October 2000. Gusts of 115mph were recorded during the great storm of 1987, when 18 people died and thousands of homes were without power for several days. The Met Office had issued an amber warning, meaning "be prepared," for the southern half of England and the southern half of Wales. It gave a lesser yellow warning, meaning "be aware," for the rest of Wales and England up to the Border.