A rare “stay at home” warning has been issued for parts of the United Kingdom and Ireland as a severe storm lashes the region, bringing dangerous 100mph (160 kmh) winds and unleashing travel chaos.

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

The dangerous weather phenomenon is believed to have developed at about 5am on Friday, the Met Office said, resulting in record wind speeds of 114mph.

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.

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,

Ireland's national weather service says the country has seen 114 mph wind gusts, the highest ever recorded on the island.

Millions of people in Ireland and northern parts of the U.K. were urged to stay at home Friday as hurricane-force winds disabled power networks and brought widespread travel disruptions. Forecasters issued a rare “red” weather warning,

Dublin: Ireland recorded its strongest-ever wind gusts on Friday as “destructive” Storm Eowyn barrelled in from the Atlantic, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes without power, grounding flights and shutting schools,