Thousands of travellers faced disruption to their new year plans after all Eurostar trains in and out of London were cancelled on Saturday after “unprecedented” flooding in a tunnel on the line. There were no high-speed services running between London St Pancras international and Ebbsfleet international in Kent on Saturday, and Southeastern trains on the same route were also suspended. A total of 41 Eurostar trains were cancelled. The railway company, which runs services from London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, cancelled all its Saturday services because of a flooded tunnel in Kent. Stranded travellers said they were frustrated and disappointed and were forced to cancel or delay holidays, miss new year plans or splash out on expensive alternative travel options. Among them were two newlyweds visiting from New York who said their plans to spend New Year’s Eve at Disneyland Paris were “ruined”. Nicole Carrera, 29, and her husband, Christopher, 31, were due to catch a train from London to Paris on Saturday morning. They had to rebook for a 2.30pm outbound train on Sunday, scuppering their plans to spend New Year’s Eve at the theme park and leaving them out of pocket for a non-refundable hotel booked in Paris for Saturday evening. Carrera, who works for the cosmetics company L’Oréal, said: “We actually got married in October and we had this trip planned before we got engaged. So we’ve been in London since Wednesday and we wanted to leave today because we were actually supposed to go to Disney Paris tomorrow for New Year’s Eve. “So obviously those plans are ruined because now we won’t get into Paris tomorrow until about 6pm. So we’re just going to walk around the city tomorrow when we get there and finally get to our hotel. It’s just one of those things.” A video released by Southeastern showed water pouring into a tunnel used by high-speed trains, completely covering the steel tracks. Thames Water, which sent a technician to offer support, said it believed the incident was caused by a fire control system malfunction, not a burst pipe. Engineers worked through Friday night with pumps and tankers to drain the water in the tunnel, but the scale of the flooding meant services could not resume as normal on Saturday. As Sunday approached, it was unclear when trains would start running again. Eurostar apologised for the delays and disruption to people’s festivities. A spokesperson said on Saturday afternoon: “Eurostar has been made aware by Network Rail that flooding in the tunnels between St Pancras international and Ebbsfleet has not improved and train services are unable to operate. Eurostar has therefore had to take the unfortunate decision to cancel all services for the rest of the day. This is a total of 41 trains.” “Eurostar is extremely sorry for the unforeseen issues affecting customers today, but safety remains our number one priority. We understand this is a vital time to get home at the end of the festive season and ahead of new year and we are supporting customers in stations. Customers affected are encouraged to visit the website to find out what compensation they can receive.” The tail of Storm Gerrit continues to be felt across the UK and the Met Office has reported rain and gale force winds in some areas. There were yellow weather warnings for wind in England, rain in Wales, and rain and snow in Scotland. A yellow wind warning is in place until 3am on Sunday for parts of southern England and Wales. “Delays to road, rail, air and ferry transport are likely,” the Met Office warning said. Meanwhile, extreme weather resulted in speed restrictions being imposed on the West Highland line from 10am Saturday until 9am Sunday, Network Rail Scotland said. Passengers at St Pancras said their plans had been thrown into disarray – either returning from a Christmas holiday in the UK or going to mainland Europe for new year – and were left stranded or forced to pay expensive rates. Some travellers said they had already checked out of hotels or found it difficult to book alternative flights due to heightened demand, leaving them frustrated and out of pocket. Many passengers facing disruption had young children or were laden with multiple suitcases from the festive period. “It’s really unfair; I’ve thought a few unprintable things,” one woman, attempting to reach Rotterdam, said at St Pancras. Other passengers tried not to let the suspended services get them down, and a few people played the pianos in the station. “It’s unfortunate, but we’re not going to sit here being all grumpy,” said Herman Mellema, 30, from Amsterdam.