Overview
- Storm Austen struck the South West on Friday, causing severe damage, thousands of power cuts and the partial collapse of Brighton’s West Pier, and Storm Boelo followed less than 24 hours later, moving into northern Britain on Saturday.
- The Met Office has placed large areas of Scotland, northern England and parts of Northern Ireland under amber and yellow wind warnings as gusts commonly reach 60–80 mph and officials warn of danger to life from flying debris and high waves.
- Rail operators, ferry companies and some airlines have suspended or reduced services and Network Rail has announced planned line closures to protect safety as strong winds and heavy rain produce widespread travel disruption.
- National Grid and distribution engineers said they have restored more than 60,000 supplies since Austen but thousands of homes remain without electricity and crews warn Boelo could cause further outages while they repair fallen poles and lines.
- Environment agencies have issued dozens of flood alerts and warnings for coastal and river flooding and forecasters expect unsettled, windy conditions to continue into next week, increasing the risk of further local flooding and disruption.