UK crews work to restore 700,000 connections after storms

About 90,000 homes and businesses across northern parts of the UK remained without electricity on Monday morning, according to the Energy Networks Association, which represents power operators in the UK and Ireland. The outages followed storms Austen and Boelo, which swept across the country over the weekend.

Lawrence Slade, the association's chief executive, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that crews had restored power to about 700,000 customers since Friday. He said the back-to-back timing of the storms complicated the repairs. "It certainly was a tough one. One of the problems was how quickly Boelo followed after Austen."

Sustained winds of 50 to 70 mph, with gusts reaching 85 mph in northern Scotland, prevented engineers from working on damaged equipment. Slade said crews could not safely replace poles or restring wires while the weather system remained in the area.

Two men died during the storms. A 60-year-old was struck by a falling tree in Dumfries and Galloway, and a man in his 20s died in Finchley, north London. Scotland's first minister, John Swinney, offered condolences to the families of those who died and thanked emergency crews working through the night.

Flooding struck several coastal areas. In Largs, water moved through the town centre, reaching a level one resident said she had not seen in 36 years. Staff at the Tha-Tien-Thai restaurant posted video of their kitchen under water and said the doors would stay closed for the foreseeable future "due to larger flood restoration than originally planned." Emergency services responded to a flooded care home in Saltcoats, North Ayrshire, on Sunday evening. Police Scotland confirmed everyone at the facility was accounted for.

Travel services faced interruptions. Flights were diverted from Leeds Bradford airport, and some services were cancelled. Most train lines returned to normal operations, though operators asked passengers to check schedules before departing.

The Met Office issued two yellow weather warnings for Tuesday. The first runs from 6pm Monday to 3am Tuesday and covers western coastal areas from Cornwall to south-west Scotland, with gusts up to 65 mph expected alongside heavy rain. Forecasters warned of dangerous conditions near cliffs and strong waves.

The second warning covers most of Scotland from 3am to 9pm Tuesday. Winds of 50 to 60 mph are expected across wide areas, with gusts reaching 70 mph in the far north. The Met Office cautioned about possible travel cancellations, road closures, and additional power cuts.