THE Met Office has released the names of 11 storms set to cause disruption across Britain over the next 12 weeks.

After Storm Brian and disruption caused by ex-hurricane Ophelia, forecasters are warning that a further 11 storms are expected between now and January.

Cumbria is still reeling and recovering after stormy weather, heavy rainfall and strong winds caused widespread flooding earlier this month.

The A590 was closed for a number of hours and other main routes were flooded with bridges damaged by the sudden and sheer volume of rainwater.

“We expect an active storm period until January, with further storms until April,” AccuWeather's Tyler Roys told the Independent .

“Many storm centres are forecast to pass just north of the UK, with a battering of rain in Scotland each time they pass through.

“Many places will see 50-80mph gusts, with some coasts seeing gusts up to 100mph, and we may see well over 100mph on higher ground, especially in Scotland,” he said.

After Brian, the next 11 named storms would be Caroline, Dylan, Eleanor, Fionn, Georgina, Hector, Iona, James, Karen, Larry and Maeve.

The Met Office names storms in order to raise awareness of the potential dangers of bad weather and to highlight the extent to which utilities and infrastructure are likely to be affected.

“Last year was another successful pilot of the storm-naming project and it’s great to be now making it operational,” said Derrick Ryall, head of public weather services at the Met Office.

“Naming storms has been proved to raise awareness of severe weather in the UK, crucially prompting people to take action to prevent harm to themselves or their property.”