A rare weather alert has been issued for the motorway network in the North West of England including Preston.

Storm Debi is expected to sweep in from the early hours of Monday (13 November) morning and highways bosses have issued an alert and are urging high-sided and large vehicles to reconsider whether they need to travel.

Strong winds are expected across Preston and Lancashire and National Highways North West has issued a severe weather alert which will cover the M6, M55 and M61.

Read more: M6 restrictions and closures to be lifted after bridge repairs between junction 32 and 33

They say between 9am and 4pm the strong winds are expected and any high-sided vehicles are asked to take extra care or replan journeys.

These include motorhomes, vans, tippers, articulated HGBs, vehicles towing trailers or caravans, double-decker buses and car transporters as well as motorbikes.

The warning from National Highways comes on top of the overall yellow weather warning from the Met Office which warns of strong winds from 4am on Monday through until 6pm as Storm Debi arrives bringing with it gusts of up to 60mph at times. The warning has now been upgraded to an amber weather alert.

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