Thousands of homes without power as Storm Austen hits south-west England

Dozens of schools in Cornwall also affected as Storm Boelo heads for Scotland, Northern Ireland and north of England Thousands of homes are without power and schools were closed as the first named storm of the year hit UK shores.

Storm Austen brought severe conditions to parts of the south-west, with a gust of 76mph recorded at St Mary’s airport on the Isles of Scilly on Friday morning. By 3pm, more than 31,000…