Storms Boelo and Austen kill one, cut power to 150,000 homes across northern Europe
Two storms within 24 hours battered the UK, France, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium, leaving one dead, hundreds of thousands without electricity and widespread travel disruption.
At a glance
- Storms Boelo and Austen struck northern Europe within 24 hours, killing one person in Scotland and injuring several others.
- More than 150,000 homes lost electricity in the UK, France and Germany, with widespread transport and communication disruptions.
- Experts link the severe weather to a growing trend of extreme events driven by climate change.
Two storms, Boelo and Austen, swept across northern Europe over the weekend, killing one person in Scotland and cutting electricity to more than 150,000 homes in the United Kingdom, France and Germany, according to authorities.
In Scotland, a 60-year-old man died when a tree fell on Sunday, and two women were injured by another falling tree. Winds reached 135 km/h in Argyll and Bute. Fallen trees and power lines blocked roads and rail lines across Scotland and northern England. In Brighton, storm Austen tore away an unused pier on Friday. The Met Office warned of danger to life from flying debris and crashing waves, urging people to stay indoors.
French energy provider Enedis said 288,000 homes lost power at the peak on Saturday, with about 59,000 still without electricity by midday Sunday, mainly in Normandy and Brittany. A marathon runner in northern France was lightly hurt by a falling tree.
Around 10,000 homes in and around Freiburg-Breisgau lost power on Sunday. The town's main hospital restricted services to emergencies, and the mobile phone network was also down. Two people were seriously injured on Saturday when scaffolding blew away at a market in Nastatten.
Falling trees injured four people in Brussels on Saturday. Off the Dutch island of Schiermonnikoog, three crew members on a freight ship were injured; two were airlifted to a mainland hospital.
Hundreds of flights were cancelled or diverted across the region, including at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, one of Europe's busiest hubs.
Experts said the storms highlight a trend toward more extreme weather events driven by climate change.
Source: Al Jazeera.
Questions and answers
- Which countries were affected by storms Boelo and Austen?
- The storms hit the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.
- How many homes lost power?
- More than 150,000 homes were without electricity, including 82,000 in the UK, nearly 60,000 in France and at least 10,000 in Germany.
- Were there any fatalities?
- One man died in Scotland when a tree fell on him; several other people were injured by falling trees and debris.
