Back-to-back storms leave 150,000 homes dark across Europe

More than 150,000 households across the United Kingdom, France, and Germany lost electricity on Sunday after two consecutive storms battered northern Europe. Authorities confirmed the outages as systems struggled to recover from the rapid succession of high winds.

In the United Kingdom, over 82,000 homes were without power. The disruption was severe in western Scotland, where winds reached 135 km/h in the Argyll and Bute region. A falling tree killed a 60-year-old man in southwestern Scotland on Sunday. Two women were injured by another tree in central Scotland. Debris blocked major roads and rail lines in Scotland and northern England.

The UK Met Office warned that Storm Boelo posed a danger to life from flying debris and crashing waves. Officials advised residents to stay indoors. In Brighton, the earlier Storm Austen had blown away an unused pier on Friday. Flood risks were identified in parts of Scotland and England.

Across the Channel, France experienced its first major autumn storm. Enedis reported that 288,000 homes lost power at the peak of Storm Austen on Saturday. By midday Sunday, 59,000 customers in Normandy and Brittany remained in the dark. A marathon runner in northern France suffered minor injuries when a tree fell on the race course.

Germany saw at least 10,000 homes lose power near Freiburg-Breisgau on Sunday. The local main hospital limited services to emergency cases due to the blackout, which also interrupted mobile phone networks. In the town of Nastatten, two people were seriously injured on Saturday when scaffolding was blown away at a market.

The storms also affected the Netherlands and Belgium. In Brussels, falling trees injured four people on Saturday. Dutch coastguard officials reported that three crew members on a freight ship north of Schiermonnikoog were injured. Two were transported by helicopter to a mainland hospital.

Air travel suffered as hundreds of flights were cancelled or diverted. Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, a major continental hub, reported significant disruptions. Experts have linked the frequency of such extreme weather events to climate change.