About 90,000 properties across northern parts of the UK are still without power after a weekend of stormy weather, with forecasters warning of more strong winds to come.
Two men were killed by falling trees after two named storms, Austen and Boelo, pummelled parts of the UK, bringing widespread travel disruption, flooding, power cuts and event cancellations.
On Monday morning, the Energy Networks Association, which represents operators in the UK and Ireland, said 90,000 customers were still without power.
The association’s chief executive, Lawrence Slade, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that disruption had been widespread with operators having to restore power to about 700,000 customers over the weekend.
He said Friday, Saturday and Sunday had been particularly challenging. “It certainly was a tough one. One of the problems was how quickly Boelo followed after Austen.”
Another issue was that there was no letup in the strong winds, widely 50-70mph and up to 85mph in northern Scotland. “Until that weather system passes we can’t safely get engineers out to replace poles, to get wires back up etc.”
The weather was much milder on Monday but the Met Office said more strong winds were on the way and issued two yellow weather warnings. One is in place from 6pm until 3am on Tuesday, covering western coastal areas from Cornwall up to south-west Scotland. Gusts of up to 65mph could hit exposed coastal areas, accompanied by heavy rain at times. The Met Office warned people to take care near cliffs and be aware of strong waves.
The second warning is in place from 3am to 9pm on Tuesday and covers most of Scotland. Forecasters said winds of 50-60mph were likely to be quite widespread with gusts up to 70mph in the far north. It warned of possible travel cancellations, road closures and more power cuts.
The weekend storms led to two deaths, authorities said. A 60-year-old man was hit by a falling tree in Dumfries and Galloway while a man in his 20s died in Finchley, north London.
Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney, met senior politicians, emergency teams and forecasters on Sunday to discuss the ongoing response to the weather, amid the warnings of more to come.
On Monday, Swinney posted on X: “My deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the two people who have tragically lost their lives as a result of Storm Boelo.
“My thoughts are with all those affected by the damage and I thank the emergency services working through the night to keep people safe.”
There were also pockets of flooding with dramatic footage from Largs town centre showing flood water cascading through the town centre. One resident said it was the highest she had ever seen in 36 years of living there. Staff at the Thai restaurant Tha-Tien-Thai shared a video of their kitchen overrun by water with the desperate caption: “There is nothing left.”
It closed its doors for the foreseeable future “due to larger flood restoration than originally planned”.
Emergency services were called to a flooded care home in Saltcoats, North Ayrshire, on Sunday evening. Police Scotland said everyone at the care home was accounted for, local road closures were in place and officers were expected to remain on site overnight to assist.
There was also travel disruption with a number of flights diverted from landing at Leeds Bradford, England’s highest airport, and others cancelled. Most train services were getting back to normal although operators advised customers to check before they travelled.
The storms brought a number of event cancellations including the Sunday racing at Aintree, abandoned because of the high winds. The Guardian’s live blog of the tea-time Sunderland v Leeds goalless draw summed up the action: “And the winner is … the wind.”
