Storms leave more than 150,000 homes without power in Europe — The Local Germany
Storms Boelo and Austen, which swept across Northern Europe, left more than 150,000 homes without electricity in France, Germany and the United Kingdom. The severe weather also caused the cancellation and diversion of hundreds of flights and disruptions to mobile networks, The Local Germany reports.
Outages in France and Germany
French energy company Enedis said that at the peak of Storm Austen on Saturday, around 288,000 households were without power. As of noon on Sunday, approximately 59,000 homes, mainly in Normandy and Brittany, remained without electricity. A total of 2,600 Enedis employees and contractors were deployed to restore power supplies.
In Germany, Austen left 10,000 homes without electricity in Freiburg im Breisgau and surrounding areas. Due to the outage, which also disrupted the mobile network, the city's main hospital limited admissions to emergency cases only. According to German police, two people suffered serious injuries in Nastätten when wind tore down scaffolding during an autumn fair.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Cancelled flights and consequences in Britain
In the United Kingdom, more than 400,000 households were without electricity at different times because of the storms, the Energy Networks Association reported. Wind gusts of up to 135 kilometres per hour were recorded in Argyll and Bute, western Scotland. Fallen trees and power lines blocked roads and railway tracks. In Brighton on Friday, Storm Austen swept away part of a pier that had not been used since a 2003 fire.
The severe weather also affected the Netherlands and Belgium: four people were injured in Brussels on Saturday after trees fell. At Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, around 90 flights, including flights to Paris, Rome and Dublin, were cancelled on Sunday, while dozens of arriving flights also did not take place. Flight cancellations and changes affected airports in northern England and Scotland.
