Storms Cut Power as UK Urges Homes to Stock Supplies

Storms Austen and Boelo cut power to more than 150,000 homes across northern Europe over the weekend, disrupted transport and silenced phone networks. In Britain, France and Germany, tens of thousands of households lost electricity as roads, railways, airports and ferry services faced disruption.

Winds reached 135 kilometres an hour in Argyll and Bute in western Scotland. Fallen trees and power cables blocked roads and rail lines. The Met Office, the UK's national forecaster, warned that Storm Boelo could endanger lives through flying debris and crashing waves. Flood warnings remained in place.

Power cuts and disrupted routes

Boelo, the second storm to hit the United Kingdom over the weekend, brought outages and travel disruption to Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England on Sunday. Power cuts hit about 82,000 homes in Britain, nearly 60,000 in France and at least 10,000 in Germany. Austen came first, battering southern England on Friday before moving across northern continental Europe.

Airports, ferries, railways and roads all faced disruption. Strong winds prompted cancellations and delays at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, which warned travellers about flights to and from the hub. In Brussels, falling trees injured four people on Saturday. Near Frankfurt, two people suffered serious injuries when wind toppled scaffolding during an autumn market in Nastaetten, German police said.

Germany's weather agency DWD forecast winds of up to 100 kilometres an hour on the northern coast on Sunday. High winds and rain were expected in Denmark, Norway and parts of Sweden. Some regional ferries were cancelled, operators suspended train services on some Swedish lines as a precaution, and authorities barred some trailers from Denmark's Great Belt Bridge.

A checklist for households

As storms disrupted essential services, the UK government urged households to prepare for emergencies themselves. Its "Be Ready" campaign launched a three-year drive to improve household preparedness. Defence secretary Wes Streeting unveiled updated advice covering threats including flooding and wildfires, telling people to remain "alert not alarmed" about potential risks and calling for a "whole society approach" to national resilience.

The government advised households to keep a three-day supply of cash, bottled water and tinned food in case everyday services are disrupted. A new government website offered a downloadable emergency-kit checklist. It recommends about 3 litres of drinking water per person each day, plus water for cooking and washing, and non-perishable food that doesn't need cooking. Households should account for individual circumstances and remember pet food.

The list also includes hand sanitiser and wet wipes, blankets, sleeping bags, warm clothing, a torch and spare batteries, a portable power bank and a battery or wind-up radio for updates during a power cut. A car radio could also help, the advice says, while warning that staying indoors may be safer in severe weather. First-aid supplies, medication information, copies of identification and written records of important phone numbers also feature. For households with babies, the advice recommends nappies and formula, preferably ready-to-feed formula if water can't be boiled or bottles sterilised.

Supplies sell out

Demand for some supplies climbed after the government added battery and wind-up radios to its household emergency checklist. At least seven radio models sold out at four outlets on Saturday, two days after the change. Maplin said torch sales had risen 284% in recent days and power-bank sales had increased 106%, figures reported by The Telegraph.

Research by The Prepared Household found Scotland had the UK's highest search interest, relative to its population, in extreme-weather and emergency-preparedness supplies. Marcus Clarke, founder at The Prepared Household, said: "Scotland stands out clearly in the data, with more preparedness-related searches per person than anywhere else in the UK." He said the West Midlands also showed strong interest in torches, power banks and power-outage kits. The outages and checklist leave a practical question in kitchens and homes across the region: what happens when power and transport stop working?