Storm Austen cuts power across southwest England and fells trees in Belgium

Power cuts and gusts in southwest England

Storm Austen reached the southwest coast early on 23 October, and high winds knocked out power to thousands of people in southwest England by the morning. The UK Met Office issued an amber warning for gusts of up to 80 mph (130 kph) in Cornwall and Devon, and forecast winds of up to 60 mph (100 kph) across southern and central England during the day. Forecasters warned that trees still in full leaf could topple, adding to the risk of further outages and travel disruption. At the peak, more than 13,000 properties in Cornwall were affected by power cuts. Gusts of 84mph (135km/h) were recorded at Jersey Airport shortly before 06:00 BST, and Jersey forecasters issued a red warning for shipping around the Channel Islands.

Damage in Cornwall, Essex and the Channel Islands

Highway teams in Cornwall responded to about 250 emergencies on 23 October, including 150 reports of fallen trees, and similar problems arose in Devon. Train lines were blocked in several places and flights were cancelled, while Great Western Railway reported multiple cancellations, including between Penzance and Taunton. All schools in Jersey and Guernsey closed for the day, and schools in Cornwall either opened late or shut completely. Renouard Le Maistre, of Jonathan Le Maistre Tree Surgery, described a very busy morning as his crews cleared roads and removed trees that had come down onto power lines.

Calls keep coming in and we're keeping busy.

In Essex, firefighters attended several fallen trees that they said were a risk to life. In Pitsea, near Basildon, crews released a man stuck inside his vehicle after a tree came down on it, at about 16:47 BST on 23 October, and he was then placed in the care of the ambulance service.

Belgium and northern France

Storm Austen crossed Belgium on 23 October, and the Royal Meteorological Institute extended its orange wind warning to Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant, Brussels, West Flanders, East Flanders and Hainaut. Four people were injured in Brussels, three of them when a tree landed on a café terrace at the Grasmarkt. Brussels firefighters had completed 33 interventions by the afternoon of 23 October, with dozens still under way and about 70 calls waiting. Winds of Beaufort force 9 were measured at sea, so Austen can now be officially classed as a Belgian storm. In France, a 62-year-old man died while cutting down a tree that threatened to fall.

Walter Derieuw, a spokesman for the Brussels fire brigade, described the injuries in the city.

On the Grasmarkt, three people were injured when a tree landed on a café terrace.

Two planes were diverted from Brussels Airport to Amsterdam Schiphol, and a tunnel in Ostend was closed to traffic. Port of Antwerp-Bruges said no new arrivals or departures were planned, with the hope of resuming on Saturday morning. The 1722 line for non-urgent storm damage was saturated by calls on 23 October.

Belgium's National Crisis Centre said BE-Alert had sent nearly 2.8 million messages across 22 and 23 October ahead of the storm, of which more than 2.5 million were SMS. Most of those texts were sent based on the location of mobile phones.

Storm Boelo and the weekend

The Met Office has a yellow warning for Northern Ireland, Scotland and parts of northern England from the night of Saturday, 24 October through Sunday, 25 October, as Storm Boelo moves through. Gusts of up to 65 mph (105 kph) are forecast, with warnings of further power cuts, transport delays, building damage and flying debris. Wet and windy weather is expected across the UK on Saturday, 24 October. Several businesses and attractions in the South West will remain closed over the weekend. The Met Office began naming storms in 2015, and the names run alphabetically through a season from September to the following August.