Storm Austen: Almost 300,000 Lose Power in France, Boelo Next

What happened

Storm Austen raced in from the Atlantic overnight Thursday into Friday, Oct. 23, as the first named storm of Britain’s autumn, battering southwest England, southern Ireland and northern France. Brittany took the worst of it. A gust of 161 km/h, roughly 100 mph, was recorded at Pointe du Raz, and several weather stations broke their October records, The Connexion and Euronews reported.

By Friday, almost 300,000 customers in western France had lost power, according to figures from grid operator Enedis cited by Bloomberg. In England’s far southwest, more than 18,000 homes were without power shortly before 10:30 a.m. local time, ITV News reported, most around Penzance and central Cornwall.

None of the reports Uptick reviewed mentioned deaths or injuries from Austen. The storm was moving into Belgium and the Netherlands on Friday and was expected to clear into the North Sea by evening, the Met Office said.

Storm Austen by the numbers

The gap between the two countries’ peaks is about 39 km/h, or roughly 24 mph. That matches reports that Brittany was hit hardest before the winds moved northeast into Normandy and Hauts-de-France.

Where it hit hardest

France. Enedis counted almost 150,000 outages in Brittany, 88,800 in Normandy, 49,600 in Pays de la Loire and nearly 8,000 in Hauts-de-France, Bloomberg reported. Early on Friday the total had been about 161,000, so the number nearly doubled as the winds moved inland. All trains in Normandy were halted for the day, with service expected to return gradually from Saturday afternoon, according to The Connexion. Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said roads and rail lines were cut around Paris and in the northwest, and flights were delayed or canceled at Paris airports.

Britain. An amber wind warning covered Cornwall, Devon, Plymouth and the Isles of Scilly from 1 a.m. to 10 a.m. Friday. Great Western Railway slowed trains between Devon and Cornwall, and a fallen tree stopped the Gunnislake-Plymouth line, ITV reported. On Brighton’s seafront, big waves knocked a section of the long-abandoned West Pier into the water, the BBC reported. The airports on Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney stayed closed until Friday afternoon, according to Bloomberg.

Ireland. Orange warnings for Cork, Kerry, Waterford, Wicklow, Wexford and Dublin had expired by 8 a.m. Friday. Flooding was largely avoided, though Cork saw more than 40 fallen trees, The Irish Times reported.

Belgium and Germany. Belgium’s weather service put West Flanders, East Flanders and Hainaut on code orange from noon Friday until 1 a.m. Saturday, VRT reported. Germany’s weather service, which calls the storm “Luise,” had warnings out for about 251 districts on Friday morning, according to t-online.

Why it’s called Austen, and what a “bomb cyclone” is

Storms that threaten Britain, Ireland and the Netherlands get names from a shared list run by the Met Office, Ireland’s Met Éireann and the Dutch service KNMI. The Met Office says there’s no fixed wind speed that triggers a name. A storm is usually named when it’s expected to cause damage serious enough for an amber or red warning, as the Met Office explained when it named Austen on Oct. 20.

Austen is the first name on the 2026-27 list, followed by Boelo, Chloe and Dano, according to KNMI. The Irish Times says the name honors Austen H. Nagle, who became the first director of Ireland’s meteorological service in 1936. It isn’t Europe’s first storm of the season, though: Euronews notes that Storm Adam caused deadly flooding in Spain and southern France days earlier.

German media called Austen a “bomb cyclone.” t-online explains the term: a low-pressure system whose central pressure drops by at least 24 hectopascals within 24 hours. That rapid strengthening happens when cold northern air collides with warm, moist air from the south. Bloomberg reported that Austen formed from a low near Newfoundland and was fed by an unusually active jet stream, and that some forecast models showed this kind of explosive growth.

What happens next

The break will be short. The Met Office has named Storm Boelo, a separate low, and issued an amber wind warning for much of Scotland and parts of Northern Ireland and northern England from 9 p.m. Saturday to 9 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25. It expects gusts of 60-70 mph widely and up to 80 mph on exposed coasts.

In Ireland, an orange wind warning covers Donegal, Leitrim, Mayo and Sligo from 2 p.m. Saturday to 9 a.m. Sunday, and Kerry is under an orange rain warning Saturday morning, The Irish Times reported. In France, eight departments remain on yellow alert on Saturday. Germany expects another low on Sunday, with a brief lull on Monday, according to t-online.

Here is the weekend in order:

Quick answers

When did Storm Austen hit?

It reached southern Ireland, southwest England and Brittany overnight from Thursday, Oct. 22, into Friday, Oct. 23, then moved over northern France and the Low Countries during Friday.

How strong were Storm Austen’s winds?

Pointe du Raz in Brittany recorded France’s top gust, 161 km/h. In the U.K., the Met Office’s highest reading was 76 mph on the Isles of Scilly.

When does Storm Boelo arrive?

Boelo’s strongest winds are expected from Saturday night through Sunday, Oct. 25, mainly in Scotland, Northern Ireland, northern England and northwest Ireland.