The amber warning runs from midnight until 7am on Monday, with warnings also in place for counties on the Republic of Ireland's west coast. Gusts of up to 80mph are expected.

The flooding alerts issued by environment agencies include two "severe" warnings where rainfall could cause a "danger to life" in Didsbury and Northenden in Greater Manchester.

The Environment Agency said flooding was "likely" in 88 areas mainly in the north and west of England, while it is "possible" in another 137 areas in the north-western half of the UK, London and the south coast.

Some 23 flood warnings and seven alerts are in place across the Scottish Borders, Ayrshire, Orkney and the Western Isles, according to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

Most of Wales is covered by 18 flood warnings and 35 alerts issued by Natural Resources Wales.

There will be heavy rain on Sunday and Monday, the Met Office said, adding that "flying debris" could put people's lives in danger.

Franklin will bring "gale force westerly winds with severe and damaging gusts", Met Eireann said, "combined with very high seas".

There are two more Met Office weather warnings in place:

• A yellow warning for rain covering Cumbria, Lancashire, and West Yorkshire until 6pm on Sunday, with a chance of flooding and difficult driving conditions

• A yellow warning for wind across most of England and Wales from midday on Sunday until 1pm on Monday, with damage and disruption possible

This is the first time the Met Office has had three named storms within a week since the current system was introduced, meteorologist Becky Mitchell said.

"We had Dudley on Wednesday, Eunice on Friday and Franklin today," she pointed out.

The reason for the sequence is because "we've got a really active jet stream, which is why we're seeing so many storms track right towards the UK", Ms Mitchell added.

The damage from Franklin is not expected to be "as severe" as that caused by Eunice because the strongest winds will be confined to the coast, Ms Mitchell said.

But conditions could still be "treacherous" and up to 80mm of rain may fall in northwest England.

Katharine Smith, flood duty manager at the Environment Agency, said: "We are urging people to remain vigilant and take extreme care following the impacts of Storm Eunice, and with a further storm, Franklin, on the way.

"Heavy rain, affecting already wet areas, is likely to cause significant river flooding in parts of the north of England today and tomorrow."

Ms Smith added that teams were on the ground taking "preventative action" with the Environment Agency saying their defences have protected more than 18,000 properties from flooding in recent days.

"We advise people to stay away from swollen rivers and not to drive through flood water as just 30cm of flowing water is enough to move your car," she added.

Thousands still affected by power cuts from Storm Eunice

Franklin's arrival comes just days after widespread damage caused by Storm Eunice.

Power companies have revealed that a record 1.4 million homes were affected by cuts on Friday during the worst of Eunice.

The Energy Networks Association (ENA) said 77,000 people were still without power on Sunday afternoon.

Ross Easton, from the ENA, said 8,000 engineers are working to reconnect customers but many homes will still be without power during the week.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said it was making "good progress reconnecting customers".

As of 11am on Sunday, it said it had restored power to more than 164,000 homes, with 18,000 still awaiting reconnection.

Network operators can be contacted free on 105 in England, Scotland and Wales, while the number in Northern Ireland is 03457 643 643.

Western Power Distribution said the South West saw the most widespread power cut ever recorded.

The company said power had been restored to nearly 461,000 of its customers, and work was continuing to restore supply to the remaining 60,000.

The storm saw a provisional record wind gust of 122mph at The Needles on the Isle of Wight on Friday, and at least four people were killed in the UK and Ireland.

Sunday could see gales of up to 70mph in parts of England - the same speed recorded at Heathrow on Friday as thousands of people tuned in to YouTube channel Big Jet TV to see planes trying to land.

Speaking on Saturday, Met Office meteorologist Greg Dewhurst said: "We will see a slight easing in the wind over the evening time tonight, but it's not long before they pick up again tomorrow to lead to another windy day across the UK.

"This will have an impact on the clearing up process over the course of the day."

Some rail services had to cancel services on Sunday due to the damage wrought by Storm Eunice - and the Met Office warned that the UK could see more travel disruption on Monday.