Strong winds and a lot of rain were brought by Storm Lilian to areas of the UK on Friday, disrupting travel and causing power outages that left thousands without energy.

Strong winds caused three stages at the Leeds Music Festival to close, and the Cheshire Creamfields Festival had to postpone its debut.

According to Northern Powergrid, there was "high levels of disruption" to the electrical supply, affecting over 60,000 people.

Early on Friday, the storm brought winds of up to 70 mph to Wales and the northwest of England before shifting eastward.

On Saturday, it is anticipated to affect areas of the southern United Kingdom.

On Friday, many places reported gusts of 50 to 60 mph, while winds as high as 72 mph were recorded near Capel Curig in Wales.

Met Office weather warnings were in force for parts of the UK but have now expired after conditions improved for most.

However, the Met Office has issued a further yellow weather warning for heavy rain on Saturday from 06:00-13:00 BST for much of south east England, meaning some disruption and flooding is possible.

Festivalgoers hoping for an early start in Leeds had their plans disrupted when organisers said they would delay the opening of the site's main arena.

The BBC Radio 1, Chevron and Aux were closed due to high winds and will not open until Saturday.

University student Carrie Gill, 19, said the weather had made the experience the "worst day ever".

She said she had seen "people's tents in the sky", adding that her own had flooded with rainwater and had to be replaced.

Tegan Mcivor told the BBC how she and her partner became a "bit lost" on the way to the festival after road signs were knocked over by the wind.

"I’m pregnant and I’m hoping the wind doesn’t blow the tent away," she added.

Northern Powergrid - which supplies electricity to the north east of England, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire - said 36,000 people were still waiting to be reconnected as of Friday afternoon.

Electricity North West said engineers had restored power to almost 15,000 homes in north-west England, and were working to restore power in 3,000 more.

National Rail reported on Friday morning that trees were obstructing lines in several sections of the nation, causing disruptions. Later thereafter, it stated that a lot of services were back to normal.

Certain routes of Metrolink tram services in Greater Manchester were also suspended.

Due to severe winds, British Airways had to cancel 14 flights that were scheduled to depart from Heathrow on Friday morning and postpone others.

Gloucestershire's M48 Severn Bridge was briefly closed, and drivers were advised to anticipate delays on the M6 motorway, the A66, and the A1.

Over the bank holiday weekend, winds are predicted to lessen, but the rainy weather is still in store.

Lilian is the twelfth named storm of the current 12-month cycle, which ends in September.

It is the first time there have been that many named storms in a single cycle since the system was introduced by the Met Office in 2015.

While there were two named storms last August, Storm Lilian is more typical of an autumn storm.

Lilian is a deep area of low pressure which formed quite rapidly on Thursday night.

In meteorology, low pressure systems are the ones that give us the wet and windy weather.

The lower the pressure, the larger the pressure gradient is around its centre, which in turn creates strong winds.

These areas of low pressure have been directed to us by a fast wind high in the atmosphere flowing across the Atlantic.

Over the last few days, the jet stream has been particularly active, bringing the remnants of ex-hurricane Ernesto to our shores as well as creating Storm Lilian.