The UK Government has issued a flood alert for the Ribble Estuary to the west of Preston as Storm Eunice descends on the North West.

The alert was issued due to the high tide and waves forecast at 1pm today (Friday 18 February), with impacts possible for two hours before and afterwards.

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The flood alert area covers Freckleton Marsh, Riversway Docklands, Lower Penwortham, Hutton Marsh, Longton Marsh, Becconsall Marsh, Much Hoole Marsh, Bretherton Eyes, Croston Finney, Hesketh Out Marsh, and Hundred End.

Read more: Storm Eunice and Storm Franklin: Preston hour-by-hour weather forecast 

Storm Eunice is forecast to bring strong winds, large waves and spray overtopping the coast.

The government incident rooms are open, and they will closely monitor the situation.

They said they will re-issue alerts/warnings if necessary, with incident response staff closing flood gates and checking defences.

Read more: Lancashire County Council highways team ‘well prepared’ for Storms Dudley and Eunice

The government warned residents to be careful along beaches, promenades, coastal footpaths and roads as large waves and sea spray could be dangerous.

They also said that driving routes to coastal roads should be planned as they may be flooded, but they do not expect to see a similar impact during tomorrow’s high tides (Saturday 19 February).

But higher than normal tides at midday on Sunday (20 February) are expected, with further alerts/warnings likely to be issued.

Read more: See the latest Preston news and headlines