Storm Austen cuts power and disrupts travel across Britain and Ireland
publishers 22articles 26first reported 21 Oct, 09:45 UTCdeveloping since 21 Oct · 10 editions
Storm Austen brought strong winds and heavy rain to Britain and Ireland on Friday, cutting electricity to thousands of homes, closing schools and disrupting rail services.
More than 16,000 properties in south-west England were without power shortly before 11am, according to National Grid, which said engineers had already restored service to more than 12,000 affected properties by 8am. A gust of 76mph was recorded at St Mary’s airport on the Isles of Scilly, while dozens of schools in Cornwall opened late or remained closed. Wind and waves also caused part of Brighton’s derelict West Pier to fall into the sea.
Rail passengers faced cancellations and delays across England, Wales and Scotland. In Wales, fallen trees and signalling problems interrupted several routes, while services serving Carmarthen, Fishguard Harbour, Milford Haven and Pembroke Dock were cancelled. Disruption on some routes was expected to continue through the weekend.
In Ireland, a Status Orange rain warning covered Cork, Kerry and Waterford overnight as the storm moved east. Met Éireann warned of flooding, difficult travel and delays to public transport. Business owners in Midleton, County Cork, installed flood barriers and expressed concern about renewed flooding after Storm Babet devastated the town in October 2023.
The season’s first named storm honours Austen H Nagle, appointed the first director of the Irish Meteorological Service in 1936. The name marks the service’s 90th anniversary.
HOW THIS STORY WAS MADE
Written from 4 articles, 4 with the publisher's own text; 4 independent newsrooms once syndicated copies count as one; this version written 54 h after the record first saw the story; the editor kept it as written.
- Publishers
- 22
- Source articles
- 26
- Given to the writer
- 4, 4 with the article's own text
- Independent newsrooms
- 4
- This version written
- 54 h after the record first saw the story
- Second model (editor)
- kept as written
- Publication gate
- passed
- Human review
- none
WHAT THE EDITOR DID
The second model checked the writer's draft against the same sources and published it as written.
Written by a language model from the sources above, then checked by a second model that may only cut, attribute or correct. How it works →