Northern Ireland’s grid operator reconnects about 12,500 storm-hit homes

Flight cancellations and ferry warnings

Loganair said on 27 October that operations at all Scottish airports had been affected and some flights had been cancelled because of the yellow weather warning.

CalMac said many services remained liable to disruption or cancellation at short notice and urged travellers to check before travelling. NorthLink Ferries warned passengers of possible weather-related disruption until 29 October; that warning did not announce cancellations.

ENA says unsafe winds delayed electricity repairs

The Energy Networks Association (ENA), which represents network operators in the UK and Ireland, said on 27 October that almost 8,000 people remained without power after more than 800,000 experienced cuts. It said sustained winds of 50–85mph across parts of Scotland and northern England had hindered reconnections because engineers could not safely replace poles and restore wires.

That ENA tally counted people, while its earlier account on 27 October counted around 22,600 properties. SSEN’s latest regional tally counts customers. These different measures and areas cannot be read as a like-for-like change in disconnected households.

Orkney’s island causeways remain closed

Police Scotland closed the Churchill Barriers in Orkney, the causeways connecting the mainland with South Ronaldsay, Burray, Lamb Holm and Glimps Holm. The main road through St Mary’s Holm also closed because high winds and high tide caused flooding.

The force said a high risk of disruption remained on 27 October. These closures were already in place, separate from forecasts of further disruption.

The scale of the electricity repairs

ENA chief executive Lawrence Slade said operators had restored power to about 700,000 customers over 23–25 October, in the Guardian’s 26 October account. He said Boelo’s quick arrival after Austen had made the work particularly difficult.

The ENA counted 838,700 UK properties that experienced cuts across the two storms, not properties still disconnected. By the morning of 25 October, it said 344,900 customers had been reconnected, while dangerous conditions and difficult access delayed other repairs. Scottish and Northern Irish counts fall within UK figures; the Republic of Ireland is outside the UK.

Two men were killed by falling trees on 25 October: a man in his 20s whose car was hit in north London and a 60-year-old man in Dumfries and Galloway.

Boat transfers began for stranded wedding guests

Wedding guests were stranded on Lusty Beg Island, on Lower Lough Erne in County Fermanagh, after a ferry took on water during Boelo. Boat transfers were under way by 26 October. The managing director of the resort hosting the wedding said transport had been arranged to get guests and staff home, describing the storm’s force as unlike anything the island had experienced before.

Scottish operators’ earlier repair figures

Parts of the Western Isles received electricity from an emergency power station because a link to Skye was down. SSEN had dealt with more than 120 incidents. Earlier accounts placed SP Energy Networks’ cuts mainly in Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway, and SSEN’s in western and northern Scotland, including Orkney. Cuts were also recorded around Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Electricity repairs and road clearances across Ireland

Before confirming full restoration, NIE Networks said it had reconnected around 11,500 customers by the evening of 25 October and hoped to restore the remaining supplies that night, depending on each repair’s complexity. In the Republic of Ireland, ESB Networks said the north-west was chiefly affected, deployed crews to affected areas and expected most supplies back that evening. The Republic’s figures are separate from the UK total.

Northern Ireland’s Department for Infrastructure received around 470 reports, mainly of fallen trees, branches and surface water on roads, and said staff worked through 25 October. Ballyrobin Road in County Antrim and Glenshane Road in County Londonderry reopened after being blocked that morning. The Ballyrobin closure beyond the Seven Mile Straight junction could have affected journeys to Belfast International Airport; the Glenshane blockage was about half a mile from the Castledawson roundabout.

Earlier Scottish rail closures required safety checks

After widespread speed restrictions lengthened journeys on 25 October, ScotRail expected most trains to run normally on 26 October. Network Rail’s specialist team planned checks for fallen trees, debris, flooding and infrastructure damage before trains resumed on affected routes. The closures affected particular western and northern lines, not all Scottish public transport.

Network Rail also announced suspensions from 21:00 on 24 October between Kilmarnock and Stranraer and between Ayr and Girvan, with a half-hourly Glasgow Central–Kilwinning shuttle in both directions. Passengers were advised to check services and expect longer journeys.

Fallen trees affected tracks near Dumfries and the A832 near Fortrose and A890 at Ardnarff. Flooding closed the A78 Inverkip Road in Greenock, the A77 at Lendalfoot and roads in Dumfries and Galloway; dozens of Scottish flood warnings and alerts were issued. The Erskine Bridge closed to high-sided vehicles. In the 24 October account, Police Scotland’s deputy head of road policing, Supt Andy Barclay, urged drivers to consider whether journeys were necessary.

Storms disrupted flights and flooded railway lines

Edinburgh Airport recorded 81 cancellations and 11 diversions from the start of warnings on 24 October. Strong winds delayed or cancelled hundreds of flights at airports serving Dublin, London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow. In Lancashire, flooding blocked the line between Preston and Blackpool North.

Belfast and Dublin flight cancellations

Dublin’s airport operator said the 25 October cancellations were mainly caused by weather in other countries. On 24 October, six inbound flights abandoned a landing attempt: five landed on the second try, while one diverted before returning.

Weekend ferry and public-facility closures

Stena Line cancelled Belfast–Cairnryan and Belfast–Liverpool sailings on the morning of 25 October. P&O Ferries cancelled departures from Cairnryan and Larne scheduled for 08:00 and 12:00. A Pembroke–Rosslare sailing was cancelled, with later sailings due to continue. Some Belfast–Cairnryan and Dublin–Holyhead sailings had also been cancelled on 24 October. These were individual cancellations, not route closures.

CalMac said weather affected 27 of its 30 west-coast services. It had earlier announced cancellations across all 30 for the remainder of 24–25 October and warned of disruption into 26 October and further cancellations at short notice.

Derry City and Strabane District Council announced closures of outdoor sports facilities, parks, greenways and Brooke Park leisure centre for 24–25 October. Cemeteries and recycling centres were scheduled to open on 24 October and close on 25 October, with funerals excepted from the cemetery closure. Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council cancelled Ballymoney’s fireworks display scheduled for 24 October because of the warning.

Flooding affected Welsh homes and trains

Police and councils dealt with flooding and fallen trees in Wales after the successive storms. Hundreds of homes lost power, and buses replaced some Transport for Wales trains.

SP Energy Networks described 14 separate outages in north and mid Wales. Electricity engineers were working to restore supplies. The Cardiff Central–Bridgend railway was blocked and the Bridgend–Maesteg line flooded. Four River Ely flood warnings were in place at 09:20 on 25 October.

Warnings issued for the storm weekend

The Met Office’s amber wind warning for parts of counties Antrim and Londonderry ran from 21:00 on 24 October until 10:00 GMT on 25 October; Northern Ireland’s yellow warning ended at midday on 25 October. Ireland’s weather service, Met Éireann, also issued the following warnings for the Republic.

Irish forecasters expected intense rain in Kerry, with flooding expected and damage to homes and businesses possible. They warned of difficult travel, rail and bus delays and disruption to outdoor events. In yellow-warning areas, they warned of local flooding, strong gusts, coastal waves and fallen debris that could make driving and cycling difficult.

Recorded winds and the warnings before Boelo

Forecasts issued on 22–23 October warned of difficult road travel across the UK on 24 October because of surface water and spray, with earlier rain increasing local flood risk. Yellow warnings for Orkney, the rest of Northern Ireland and northern England forecast gusts of 55–75mph, with isolated 80mph gusts possible. Scotland’s warning was raised from yellow to amber for the mainland and Western Isles, while Orkney remained under yellow. The amber period ran from 21:00 on 24 October to 21:00 on 25 October.

The Met Office warned that flying debris could injure people, trees and buildings could be damaged, and power and phone services could fail. It forecast the strongest winds first in western Scotland and far northern Northern Ireland on 24 October, then farther east on 25 October.

The weather system after Boelo

A forecast issued on 25 October expected another developing area of low pressure to bring rain and potentially strong winds on 26–27 October, with its strength and track then uncertain. The system remained unnamed on 27 October and proved less widely disruptive than Boelo or Austen.

The unnamed system brought gusts of 65–80mph to parts of western England and Wales in the early hours of 27 October. The Met Office forecast the strongest winds for the rest of that date across Scotland and Northern Ireland’s northern coast: gusts of 50–60mph, possibly reaching 70mph in the most exposed parts of north-western and northern Scotland.

A separate yellow wind warning for south-west Scotland ran from 18:00 on 26 October to 03:00 on 27 October, before the broader warning that lifted at 18:00. Further travel disruption and power cuts had remained forecast risks alongside the flight cancellations and road closures already recorded.

The Met Office advised preparing essentials, including torches and batteries, because further cuts were possible. It forecast winds and heavy rain to ease later on 27 October, with calmer conditions for the rest of the week. SSEN continued work on the remaining electricity repairs, while ferry operators advised passengers to check services, with NorthLink warning of possible disruption until 29 October.