Northern Europe experienced widespread disruption on Sunday as Storms Boelo and Austen swept across the region within 24 hours, leading to power cuts for over 150,000 homes, the cancellation of hundreds of flights, and silenced phone networks in affected areas.
In France, nearly 60,000 homes initially lost power. French energy company Enedis reported that at the peak of Storm Austen on Saturday, some 288,000 residences were without electricity. By midday Sunday, approximately 59,000 homes, primarily in Normandy and Brittany, remained without power, with 2,600 Enedis technicians and contractors working to restore service.
Germany also felt the impact, with Storm Austen cutting power to at least 10,000 homes in and around Friburg-Brisgau on Sunday. The main hospital in Friburg-Brisgau was forced to limit services to emergency cases due to the blackout, which also affected the mobile phone network. German police reported that two people were seriously injured on Saturday in Nastatten when scaffolding was blown away by Storm Austen's winds during an autumn market.
Britain's Energy Networks Association indicated that over 400,000 homes had experienced power loss at some point during the storms. More than 82,000 homes were without electricity on Sunday. Winds reaching up to 84 miles (135 kilometers) per hour were recorded in Argyll and Bute in western Scotland, and fallen trees and power cables blocked roads and rail lines nationwide. On Friday, part of the pier at Brighton, on the southern England coast, which had been unused since a 2003 fire, was blown away by Storm Austen.
The storms also affected the Netherlands and Belgium, where four people were injured by falling trees in Brussels on Saturday.
Air travel across northern Europe was severely impacted, with hundreds of flights cancelled or diverted. Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, a major European hub, cancelled dozens of flights on Sunday. An AFP count showed around 90 flights cancelled on the airport's website, mainly to European cities including Paris, Rome, and Dublin. Dozens of incoming flights were also cancelled. Flights in northern England and Scotland were similarly affected.
Germany's DWD weather agency forecasted additional powerful winds of up to 100 kph (60 mph) along the northern coast on Sunday. Experts warned that these events signal a trend of more extreme weather due to global warming.
