24 hours: Twin storms Boelo and Austen cut power to 150,000 European homes
Twin storms killed one man in Scotland and knocked out electricity for over 150,000 households across the UK, France, and Germany.
By Paula Delgado ·
Storms Boelo and Austen swept through northern Europe within 24 hours, leaving more than 150,000 homes without electricity and killing one man. The weather systems disrupted transportation networks and strained power grids from the United Kingdom to Germany.
The storms arrived in rapid succession. Austen struck on Saturday, reaching peak intensity before Boelo moved through the region on Sunday. This back-to-back pattern compounded damage to infrastructure and extended the duration of outages for residents.
In the United Kingdom, more than 82,000 homes were left in the dark on Sunday. Winds in the Argyll and Bute regions of western Scotland reached 135 km/h (84 mph). A falling tree killed a 60-year-old man in southwestern Scotland, while another tree injured two women in central Scotland. The storms also blocked roads and rail lines across Scotland and northern England. In Brighton, Austen blew away an unused pier on Friday.
France experienced its first major autumn storm, with French energy company Enedis reporting that 288,000 homes lost power at Austen's peak on Saturday. By midday Sunday, 59,000 homes in Normandy and Brittany remained without electricity. A marathon runner in northern France sustained minor injuries when a tree fell during a race.
Germany faced significant disruptions, particularly around Freiburg-Breisgau, where 10,000 homes lost power on Sunday. The main hospital in Freiburg limited its service to emergency cases due to the blackout, which also interrupted mobile phone networks. In the town of Nastatten, scaffolding blown away by Austen's winds seriously injured two people at a market on Saturday.
The storms also affected the Netherlands and Belgium. Four people were injured by falling trees in Brussels on Saturday. In the Netherlands, three crew members on a freight ship north of Schiermonnikoog were injured. Two were airlifted to a hospital on the mainland. Hundreds of flights were cancelled or diverted across the region, including at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport.
The UK's national forecaster, the Met Office, warned that Boelo posed a danger to life from flying debris and crashing waves. Authorities advised people to stay indoors as much as possible. Flood risks were identified in parts of Scotland and England.
Source: Al Jazeera
