LONDON, United Kingdom / EuroWire.IO / – One man was killed and more than 150,000 homes lost electricity on Sunday as two storms struck northern Europe in quick succession. Storm Austen and Storm Boelo hit the region within 24 hours of each other, AFP reported. More than 82,000 homes were without power in Britain, close to 60,000 in France and at least 10,000 in Germany. Travel and phone networks were also disrupted.
The victim, a 60-year-old man, was killed by a falling tree in southwestern Scotland on Sunday. A falling tree also injured two women in central Scotland. In France, a marathon runner in Lille suffered minor injuries when the wind brought down a tree during the race. According to the Energy Networks Association, more than 400,000 homes in Britain lost power at some point during the two storms.
Gusts reached 135 kilometres an hour in Argyll and Bute on Scotland’s west coast. Roads and railway lines across Scotland and northern England were blocked by fallen trees and power lines. Authorities issued flood risk warnings for parts of Scotland and England. The Met Office warned that Storm Boelo could bring flying debris and large waves. It advised people to stay indoors where possible. Train, ferry and flight services were cancelled in north-east Scotland.
Normandy and Brittany worst hit in France
French grid operator Enedis said Storm Austen left about 288,000 homes without electricity at its peak on Saturday. By midday on Sunday, around 59,000 homes were still without power, most of them in Normandy and Brittany. France was also hit by Storm Goretti in January, which caused major power outages. On Friday, Austen blew away an unused pier in Brighton on England’s south coast. Normandy and Brittany both face the Atlantic and the English Channel.
In southwest Germany, Austen cut electricity to about 10,000 homes in and around Freiburg im Breisgau on Sunday. The main hospital in the city restricted services to emergency cases during the blackout. Mobile phone networks in the area also went down. A day earlier, scaffolding blown away at a market in Nastätten seriously injured two people. Freiburg lies close to Germany’s borders with France and Switzerland.
Air travel disrupted across the region
Belgium and the Netherlands were also affected. In Brussels, four people were hurt by falling trees on Saturday. Three crew members on a freight ship north of Schiermonnikoog in the Netherlands were injured, and two were airlifted to hospital by helicopter. The ship was sailing in the North Sea. Hundreds of flights across northern Europe were cancelled or diverted. AFP counted around 90 cancellations on the website of Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport.
Strong winds were set to continue in Scotland, where a yellow weather warning covered most of the country until 9pm on Tuesday. SP Energy Networks said it expected to restore power to all its customers by 2am on Tuesday. SSEN said some households in north-east Scotland could remain without power well into the week. Storms and other climate disasters have caused heavy economic losses in Europe.