Storms Boelo and Austen Cut Power to 150,000 European Homes

Two storms hit northern Europe within 24 hours, leaving one man dead and more than 150,000 homes without electricity.

The weather event began Friday when Storm Austen swept across the region, peaking in strength on Saturday before weakening. Storm Boelo followed on Sunday, bringing sustained winds of up to 135 km/h to western Scotland. The proximity of the two systems prevented power crews from fully restoring service between the first and second impacts.

In the United Kingdom, over 82,000 homes lost electricity. A 60-year-old man died in southwestern Scotland when a tree fell on him, and two women were injured by another fallen tree in central Scotland. Winds in Argyll and Bute reached 84 mph, knocking down power lines and blocking roads and rail lines. In Brighton, Austen destroyed an unused pier on Friday. The UK Met Office issued a warning that Boelo posed a danger to life from flying debris and crashing waves, advising residents to stay indoors.

France experienced the first major storm of the autumn. The utility company Enedis reported that 288,000 homes lost power at Austen’s peak on Saturday. By midday Sunday, 59,000 homes remained in the dark, primarily in Normandy and Brittany. A marathon runner in northern France sustained light injuries when a tree fell during a race. In Germany, 10,000 homes near Freiburg-Breisgau lost power on Sunday. The local hospital restricted services to emergency cases, and mobile phone networks failed. German police reported that two people were seriously injured on Saturday when scaffolding blew away at a market in Nastatten.

The storms also affected the Netherlands and Belgium. Four people were injured by falling trees in Brussels on Saturday. The Dutch coastguard reported that three crew members on a freight ship north of Schiermonnikoog were injured. Two of them were airlifted to a mainland hospital. Hundreds of flights were cancelled or diverted across the region, including at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport.

Authorities in the UK warned of flood risks in parts of Scotland and England. Enedis and German utilities worked through Sunday to restore power. The Met Office continued to monitor Boelo as it moved through the region.