Bad newsStorms Austen and Boelo Leave 150,000 Homes Without Power Across Three Countries
Two storms in 24 hours killed a man in Scotland and cut power to more than 150,000 homes in the UK, France and Germany, with hundreds of flights cancelled and a German hospital limited to emergencies.
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Two storms in quick succession killed one man and cut electricity to more than 150,000 homes across northern Europe by Sunday 25 October. Al Jazeera, citing AFP and AP, reports that more than 82,000 homes in the United Kingdom, nearly 60,000 in France and at least 10,000 in Germany had no power on Sunday. Storms Boelo and Austen passed through within 24 hours.
Deaths, injuries and outages
A falling tree killed a man, 60, in southwestern Scotland on Sunday, and another injured two women in central Scotland, according to the Press Association as cited by Al Jazeera. Winds peaked at 84mph (135km/h) in Argyll and Bute, the Met Office says.
France’s grid operator Enedis said 288,000 homes were without power at Austen’s peak on Saturday, and about 59,000 remained cut off at midday Sunday, mainly in Normandy and Brittany. In Germany, a blackout around Freiburg left 10,000 homes without power and cut the mobile phone network, and the town’s main hospital limited its service to emergency cases, Al Jazeera reports. Two people were seriously hurt in Nastatten when scaffolding blew away at a market.
Travel and flooding
Hundreds of flights were cancelled or diverted across northern Europe, including at Amsterdam’s Schiphol, and four people were injured by falling trees in Brussels. Three crew members were hurt aboard a freight ship north of Schiermonnikoog in the Netherlands, two of them airlifted to hospital.
In Wales, BBC News reports that a gust of 84mph was recorded at Capel Curig and that 54.6mm of rain fell on Saturday. Hundreds of homes lost power, rail services were replaced by buses on some lines after flooding and fallen trees, and ferries between Holyhead and Dublin were cancelled. Natural Resources Wales had one flood warning in force on Sunday afternoon and 12 flood alerts for Monday.
Authorities have warned of flood risk in regions of both Scotland and England. The Met Office said Boelo brought a danger to life from flying debris and crashing waves, and told people to stay indoors as much as possible. In Brighton, Austen blew away an unused pier on Friday.
Al Jazeera adds that experts have warned of more extreme weather events because of climate change. The sources do not give a cost for the damage. Neither report says when the last homes will be reconnected.
