Millions of people in Ireland and northern parts of the U.K. heeded the advice of authorities to stay at home Friday in the face of hurricane-force winds that disabled power networks and brought widespread travel disruptions.

Storm Eowyn Friday continued to cause power outages for hundreds of thousands, knocked down trees and disrupted transportation as it moved across Scotland and Northern Ireland into Britain's West Midlands region.

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,