Around 22,000 properties remained without power on Tuesday as Storm Boelo continued to batter parts of Scotland and northern England with strong winds. The Energy Networks Association reported that almost 8,000 people were still without electricity after more than 800,000 experienced outages during the weekend storm.
Two men died after being hit by falling trees during the storm. A man in his 20s was killed when a tree struck his car in north London, and Richard Baines, a 60-year-old identified as the long-serving curator of Logan Botanic Garden, was killed in Dumfries and Galloway.
Strong winds with gusts of 65-80 mph hit parts of western England and Wales early Tuesday morning. The Met Office issued a yellow weather warning for Scotland and the northern coast of Northern Ireland, with gusts expected to reach 50-60 mph, possibly up to 70 mph in exposed parts of northwest and northern Scotland. These winds were forecast to ease later Tuesday, with conditions improving for much of the UK.
A third of a month's rain fell in Scotland during the storm, hampering clean-up efforts. Leo Slade, CEO of the Energy Networks Association, told the BBC that engineers could not safely work until the weather system passed. "Until that weather system passes, we can't safely get engineers out to replace poles, to get wires back up," he said.
Slade stressed that the UK's power network was resilient and that investment had been made to prepare for such scenarios, but said debate was needed over additional investment required to mitigate for storms brought by climate change. Flooding damaged shops in Largs, North Ayrshire, and power cuts forced some Scottish schools to close. Storm Boelo was the second storm to hit the UK in recent days, following Storm Austen.