The first two named storms of the 2026/27 season have already demonstrated the scale of disruption severe weather can cause across the UK’s infrastructure networks. With further unsettled weather forecast, what can we learn from the impacts, and how can better network understanding strengthen preparedness for the months ahead?
The consequences have been significant. Fallen trees have blocked major roads and railway lines, flooding has affected communities and transport networks, flights have been cancelled, and hundreds of thousands of properties have experienced power outages. Most tragically, the storms have also resulted in the loss of two lives following separate incidents involving falling trees.
For local authorities, highways teams, emergency responders and infrastructure operators, the storms have provided an early and powerful reminder of the challenges that severe weather places on our networks.
The Impact in Numbers
The scale of the impacts becomes particularly clear when we look at the figures reported across the UK.
Figure | Reported impact |
|---|---|
2 named storms | The first two of the 2026/27 season, arriving within three days. |
838,700 properties | Affected by electricity outages across Storm Austen and Storm Boelo, according to the Energy Networks Association. |
85mph winds | Maximum gusts reported at Machrihanish in Scotland and the Needles on the Isle of Wight. |
131mm rainfall | Recorded at Cluanie Inn in Scotland, with 115mm reported at White Barrow in Wiltshire. |
2 fatalities | Two men tragically died in separate incidents involving falling trees. |
100+ highways calls | Received by Devon County Council’s control centre on Friday morning alone, predominantly concerning fallen trees, branches and flooding. |
Figures reported during 23–26 October 2026. Rainfall and wind figures relate to individual recording locations, while the electricity figure represents properties affected across both storms.
Using Devon County Council as an example, its highways control centre received more than 100 calls on Friday morning alone, predominantly concerning fallen trees, branches, flooding and standing water. Additional crews were deployed, with incidents prioritised according to risk as the authority prepared for further disruption.
Severe Weather Doesn’t Affect Our Networks in Isolation
A fallen tree can block a highway, damage electricity infrastructure or interrupt a railway. Heavy rainfall can overwhelm drainage systems, flood roads and restrict access to communities. Leaves and debris can obstruct gullies and watercourses, increasing the potential for surface-water flooding. What begins as a problem with an individual asset can quickly become a much wider issue for the network and the people who depend on it.
This is particularly important for local authorities, where responsibility for drainage, highways, trees, greenspace, flood risk and emergency preparedness often sits across different teams and systems. Each service has its own responsibilities and operational priorities, but the consequences of severe weather rarely follow those organisational boundaries.
Understanding how assets, environmental conditions and vulnerabilities connect across a place is therefore an important part of building more resilient networks.
Strengthening Preparedness for What Comes NextThe Met Office provided advance warnings of both storms, but knowing severe weather is approaching is only part of the challenge. The real question is what those conditions mean for the assets, networks and communities an authority is responsible for.
Where are the drainage assets with a history of flooding? Which trees present the greatest risk to critical highways? And where could disruption have the greatest impact on communities? Answering these questions requires reliable asset information, an understanding of condition and risk, and the ability to connect that evidence with changing weather conditions.
With Storm Austen and Storm Boelo only the first two named storms of the season, and authorities already managing stretched networks and resources, there’s still time to strengthen preparedness for what comes next.
At KaarbonTech, we’re supporting over 70 local authorities to better understand their networks and make more informed, risk-based decisions. Get in touch to explore how we could support your authority before the next storm.
The next storm may be beyond our control. How well we understand our networks, and what we do with that understanding beforehand, is not.