Storm Boelo leaves 90,000 UK homes without power as clean-up begins

Another night without power for thousands

About 90,000 properties were still without power on Monday, as engineers struggled to repair damage caused by the severe weather.

The storm has also been linked to two deaths after falling trees struck during the weekend. One man in his 20s died in north London, while a second man was killed in Dumfries and Galloway on Sunday.

Boelo arrived just days after Storm Austen, bringing another spell of damaging weather to the UK. 

Strong winds and heavy rain are expected to continue on Monday, leaving repair teams with little opportunity to catch up on the growing list of power cuts.

According to the Energy Networks Association (ENA), winds reaching between 50mph and 85mph across parts of Scotland and northern England repeatedly prevented engineers from carrying out repairs safely. 

Some crews had to remain on standby for hours, unable to access damaged equipment while the worst of the weather passed through.

Energy chief raises concerns over the cost of preparing for future storms

ENA chief executive Leo Slade said the conditions had made it an exceptionally difficult weekend for workers. 

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he explained that engineers could not safely climb electricity poles or put wires back in place while the storm was still overhead.

Slade said the network had been built to withstand disruption and had benefited from significant investment. 

However, he also raised the question of whether more money would be needed to protect infrastructure against increasingly severe storms linked to climate change.

Two-day power cut threatens business during its busiest time of year

The electricity cuts have created serious problems for businesses preparing for the Christmas rush. 

Wax Lyrical, a home fragrance manufacturer with a factory and shop in Lindal, Cumbria, is among those affected, with operations expected to remain without power until Tuesday evening.

Marcus Reed, the company's operations director, warned that losing electricity for two days would have a major effect on its ability to manufacture and distribute products.

“To lose two days manufacturing and distribution is going to be really disruptive,” Reed said, explaining that the interruption had come during “the busiest time of the year” for the business.

He described the outage as the worst the company had experienced, noting that previous power cuts had been resolved within 12 hours.

With repair work still dependent on conditions improving, some customers will have to wait longer than others for their electricity to return. 

The ENA said teams could not begin reconnecting certain areas until the weather system had moved away, with parts of Cumbria expected to remain affected into Tuesday evening.