A powerful storm has been battering norther Europe, causing travel disruption and sporting events to be cancelled across the UK, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

Storm Ciara, as it has been named by the UK's Met Office national weather agency, brought hurricane-force winds up to 80 mph (129 km/h) and heavy rain.

This prompted the UK's Met Office to issue a "danger to life" severe weather warning, including 22 emergency flood warnings and 149 flood watch alerts.

Trains, flights and ferries were canceled as a result of trees falling on to tracks - as well as other objects including trampolines - with Storm Ciara expected to do further damage to electrical wires.

Ireland's Met Eireann meteorological service warned of "a significant risk of coastal flooding especially along western and northwestern coasts."

In the western Irish city of Galway, the long-planned event to launch the European capital of culture 2020, was canceled on Saturday evening.

Other events were also canceled, including a 10 kilometer race in London in which 25,000 runners were due to take part. Public parks across London were also closed as a precaution.

Football club Manchester City's Premier League clash with West Ham was among other major sporting events postponed on Sunday.

In Scotland, emergency services were called to St John Street, Perth, on Saturday evening when part of a pub roof collapsed. The fire service said three people had been injured.

The German Meteorological Service (DWD), who named the storm 'Sabine,' said it was hitting the country's northwest from mid-morning Sunday, and then gradually traveling south across central Germany towards Bavaria.

In Belgium, the Royal Meteorological Institute issued an alert for Sunday of winds reaching 130 km/h, or more, with the risk of property damage nationwide.

French forecasters Meteo France also said that the northern and northwestern regions of the country were being hit by strong gusts from Sunday morning and overnight into Monday, with wind speeds of up to 140 km/h.

Winds of 100 km/h were registered just after midday in the Netherlands and gusts were expected to pick up to 140 km/h later Sunday.

In the Netherlands, as in other norther European countries, public transport and other traffic was disrupted by flooding and downed trees, with people advised to stay indoors.

But that didn't stop a band of cyclists from braving the conditions to take part in the Dutch Headwind Cycling Championships. The 8.5 kilometer race involves cyclists plowing headfirst into the storm with no extra cycling gear.

Hundreds of flights were canceled, with airlines warning more disruption to travel should be expected.

Around 120 flights to and from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, one of Europe's largest, were cancelled or delayed on Sunday. While 100 flights to and from Frankfurt airport, Germany's largest hub, had been cancelled by early Sunday afternoon due to storm Sabine.

Many sporting events were cancelled due to the bad weather.

The German Football League announced the postponement of the Bundesliga match between Cologne and Borussia Mönchengladbach, and football matches in Belgium and the Netherlands were postponed, as well as racing and rugby matches in various countries.

The storm also made it tough going for spectators and players at the rugby match in northern Paris between hosts France and visitors Italy. 

But, on a brighter note, a British Airways Boeing 747 passenger jet may have become the fastest subsonic flight from New York to London after it crossed the Atlantic in just 4 hours and 56 minutes, helped by Storm Clara's winds.

The BA112 flight, which took off from John F Kennedy airport, was expected to arrive at Heathrow at 7.25am CET on Sunday but arrived 102 minutes early at 5:43ams.

In a statement BA said: "We always prioritize safety over speed records, but our highly trained pilots made the most of the conditions to get customers back to London well ahead of time."