Storm Arwen will tear through the Channel today raising fears more migrants will die if they try to cross from France to Britain as MPs demanded Emmanuel Macron swamps beaches with police to prevent any boats setting off in the high winds.
Gusts of up to 75mph in the Channel and big waves are expected along Britain's coast as the first named storm of the season brings gales, rain and snow through today and tomorrow.
27 people died - including three children - died on Wednesday when their 'flimsy' dinghy deflated in seas nowhere near as rough as predicted over the coming 48 hours. There are fears migrants could be forced to cross anyway amid reports one man was shot in the knee when he refused to cross after the deathtrap rib went down.
Kent MP Craig Mackinlay said that with Storm Arwen set to blast 75mph winds towards France, Macron must ensure that nobody crosses today to avoid more deaths in the Channel. But despite the warning only small groups of police were seen on patrol near Calais.
He told MailOnline: 'The French should be putting maximum on the ground resources across the 20 miles of high risk beaches north and south of Calais. Bad weather will push the traffickers to use the shortest possible route'.
Dover MP Natalie Elphicke said: 'Conditions on the English Channel look set to become even more treacherous in the coming days. It's urgent that France works with the UK and EU allies to stop more lives being lost. No-one should be making this kind of journey across a stormy sea. The French authorities should appeal for people to heed the weather forecast and stay where they are.'
It came as Emmanuel Macron went into meltdown at Boris Johnson today branding the PM 'not serious' for sending a public letter with demands for ending migrant tragedies in the Channel. And French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told counterpart Priti Patel this morning that she is no longer welcome at the crisis meeting on Sunday, after UK condemnation of lax patrolling at French beaches where migrants are launching boats in a desperate bid to reach Britain.
Police search the dunes at Wimereux beaches near Bolougne from early this morning days after 27 migrants died heading to the UK as Storm Arwen threatens to take more lives if more people try to cross
This group of migrants, understood to be from Afghanistan, have not been seen or heard from since a dinghy capsized in the Channel on Wednesday
The flimsy and dangerous dinghy that sank off Calais on Wednesday, killing 27 people including seven women - one of whom was pregnant - and three children
Migrants sit near wood fire at a makeshift migrant camp in Loon Beach, the day after 27 migrants died when their dinghy deflated as they attempted to cross the English Channel
The high winds brought to the UK by Storm Arwen are initially due to be in Scotland, but the northerly flow of weather will spread southwards across the Channel later.
Forecasters warn the storm could lead to travel disruption along with damage to buildings and power supplies. Large waves could also see material thrown on to coastal roads, sea fronts and properties.
Five of the people who died in Wednesday's tragedy are feared to be young men from Afghanistan, who have failed to text their friends back in Calais and Dunkirk. Amid growing fears about the safety of winter crossings, it was claimed that a scared migrant was 'kneecapped' after he refused to board a boat on the same night as the the dinghy went down.
MailOnline revealed yesterday that the gangs cramming people on to deathtrap dinghies are slashing to price by 500 euros per person to keep people crammed in.
Mohammad Aziz, 31, has not been heard of since his frantic call to a fellow Iraqi Kurd, Peshraw Aziz. He told the Daily Mail last night from his camp in Calais: 'He was panicking the boat might sink.'
The two survivors of the tragedy were named on social media last night as Mohammed Khalid, from Kurdistan, and Omer, from Somalia.
The devastated husband of an Iraqi-Kurdish woman feared to be among the 27 migrants who drowned told of how her GPS signal abruptly disappeared as he was tracking her journey.
Maryan Nuri, from Ranya in northern Iraq, told her husband she was travelling in a boat with around 30 other people.
Her husband, a Kurdish immigrant living in the UK who did not want to be named, spoke of how he had been tracking his wife's journey to join him before her signal suddenly disappeared in the middle of the sea.
'She is not in the UK, which means that she is gone. It is very sad
