Tens of thousands of people were left without power after back-to-back storms threatened to break records, as wind and rain felled trees, caused massive 20ft waves, and brought down power lines. Now it is feared a third named storm, Chloe, could be the next to batter Britain late Monday into Tuesday.
Since Friday, more than 344,900 customers had to be reconnected because of the double-trouble caused by Storm Austen - the first named storm of the season - then Storm Boelo. On Sunday morning, 80,000 customers were still without power, according to the Energy Networks Association (ENA), which said conditions were making it dangerous for their engineers in some areas.
Travel chaos and flight cancellations
The gusts became so wild, the public were urged to avoid travel and 'stay indoors' while thrill-seekers were warned to 'stay away', urged to avoid Scarborough where high tides clashed with high astronomical tides. The wind and rain, 100mm in 24 hours in some areas, caused travel chaos, losing motorways, cancelling ferries and leaving trains out of action.
Rail passengers in the north were urged not to travel after trees fell on rail tracks and damaged overhead electric wires. People were told not to travel north of Preston by Avanti West Coast, while LNER advised not to travel between Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Northern said it was "strongly advising" passengers "not to travel across the Northern network today." A tree across the track stopped services running between Bradford and Leeds.
More than 100 flights were grounded, among the affected airports were Heathrow, Manchester, Belfast International Airport and Edinburgh Airport. A fallen tree struck overhead electric wires near Stansted airport, which blocked the main line from London Liverpool Street, stopping Stansted Express services.
Leeds Bradford Airport said in a statement on Sunday: "Our teams on the ground are working hard in challenging weather conditions to support passengers and manage the impact of the disruption. Unfortunately, some departing flights have been cancelled."
Coastal impacts and warnings
In Gourock, on the Firth of Clyde, a boat broke free from its moorings before being washed up on to road. While waves broke at heights of up to 20ft against the harbour wall at Findochty in Moray. The Environment Agency had six flood warnings and 33 flood alerts in place on Sunday afternoon. The service warned: "Avoid coastal roads, footpaths and carparks, which may be flooded. Stay away from promenades where wave and spray overtopping is possible."
Meteorologist Alex Burkill said: "(Storm Boelo) is bringing some very strong winds, gusts in excess of 80mph. It has brought a very deep area of low pressure close to record-breaking for this time of year. We are already looking closely at a deep area of low pressure heading towards us.. I'm expecting wet and windy weather to arrive later Monday, into Tuesday which can cause more impacts especially to places recovering after Storm Boelo."
Outlook for the week
The Met Office said: "Unsettled conditions are expected to continue into next week, particularly in the north, as another area of low pressure approaches the UK, bringing further wet and windy weather, with a wind warning already issued for northern parts of the UK on Tuesday."
But in a bit of good news, they added: "Further ahead, there are signs of higher pressure becoming more influential towards the end of the week, which could bring a transition towards more settled conditions for parts of the UK."
The ENA gave an update at 8am on Sunday to say: "The networks have been focussed on reconnecting customers this morning, though the continuing severe weather in some regions is limiting network engineers' opportunities to safely start the work of restoring customers' power today and access to certain areas remains difficult. Engineers are working around the clock to identify and fix faults. 344,900 customers have been reconnected, following Storms Austen and Boelo 82,600 customers are without power in Great Britain."
