A STORM is set the batter the county this weekend with gusts of up to 80mph predicted.

A yellow weather warning of wind and snow is now in place for Saturday and Sunday.

The warning that has been branded Storm Ciara with bring very strong winds with disruption to travel likely and there is a chance of flooding to homes.

The warning for wind will come into place at 12pm on Saturday lasting until midnight and for Sunday it is the entire day.

A yellow warning has also been issued for Sunday for heavy rain from midnight until 9pm.

A warning for wind is also in place for Monday and Tuesday that will affect the borders.

Oli Claydon, a spokesman for the Met Office, explained: “Strong wind will affect the whole of the UK, in particular coastal regions will be affected.

“Cumbria will see strong windy conditions with gusts of up to 50 to 60mph and between 70 and 80mph in some exposed areas.

“It’s going to be a very unsettled period.

“In particular there could be damage to buildings and most likely there will be disruption to travel.”

Electricity North West are making preparations for the weekend weather as it could cause damage to overhead powerlines and debris and trees affect the network.

In response, Electricity North West has increased the number of engineers on standby.

Sam Loukes, incident manager at Electricity North West, said: “We monitor the weather daily and while we always have teams on standby 24/7, we can ramp this up where particularly bad weather is forecast."

"Our plans are well practiced and we will have local teams available to respond quickly on the ground, as well as teams in our control room to monitor and respond to any situation to keep power flowing across the region. Our customer team will also be available and we’ll be sending out regular updates via our social media channels.

"If anybody does see any damage to overhead lines or electricity equipment, we urge them to stay away and report it to us immediately by calling 105."