LONDON (Dispatches) — Storms battered northern Europe on Sunday cutting power to more than 150,000 homes, forcing the cancelation of hundreds of flights and silencing phone networks.
Winds of up to 84 miles (135 kilometers) an hour were recorded in Argyll and Bute in western Scotland and fallen trees and power cables blocked roads and rail lines across the country.
More than 82,000 homes in Britain, nearly 60,000 in France and at least 10,000 in Germany had power cuts inflicted by the passage of storms Boelo and Austen within 24 hours of each other, authorities in the countries said.
Britain’s weather agency, the Met Office, issued six weather warnings covering much of the country for Saturday and Sunday, while amber warnings for wind began late Saturday.
The National Grid said thousands of homes are still without power as Storm Boelo, the second named storm of the season, hit Britain.
Scotland, Northern Ireland, and north England are bracing for the worst of Boelo, with gusts of up to 128 kilometers per hour (80 miles per hour) forecast, the BBC reported.
National Rail, meanwhile, has announced disruptions to several lines, and highway authorities are urging drivers to take particular care and avoid non-essential travel.
In Ireland, Dublin Airport said it had canceled nine outbound flights and 10 inbound flights due to weather issues.
French energy company Enedis said that at the peak of storm Austen on Saturday, some 288,000 homes had no electricity.
Some 59,000 remained without power at midday Sunday, mainly in Normandy and Brittany. It said 2,600 Enedis technicians and contractors were working to re-establish power.
In Germany, Austen cut power to 10,000 homes in and around the southwestern town of Friburg-Brisgau on Sunday. The town’s main hospital said it had to limit service to emergency cases because of the blackout that also cut the mobile phone network.
The storms also hit the Netherlands and Belgium, where falling trees injured four people in Brussels on Saturday.
Hundreds of flights were canceled or diverted because of the storms across northern Europe.
Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, one of Europe’s busiest hubs, canceled dozens of flights Sunday. AFP counted some 90 flights canceled on the airport website, mainly to European cities including Paris, Rome and Dublin. Dozens of flights due to land at the airport were also canceled.
Flights in northern England and Scotland were also hit by the storms.