Back-to-back storms have ravaged the U.K. and neighboring Ireland and France, causing torrential rains, power outages and flooding the past several days and overall “wild weather,” the Associated Press reported.
Storm Éowyn first struck the Britain and Ireland on Jan. 23, bringing with it heavy rains and strong winds, followed by Storm Herminia soon after.
The Met, the government’s weather bureau, said in a Jan. 27 release that “it will be an unsettled start of the week” with national severe weather warnings in place.
Herminia pummeled southern England with wind gusts of up to 84 miles per hour (135 kilometers per hour) over the weekend, while more than 2,380 properties had power outages, according to the National Grid.
Around 100 people were evacuated from floods in places like Somerset in southwest England. Schools were also closed, and flights and trains throughout the country were delayed or canceled.
Meanwhile, Storm Eowyn left around 60,000 properties in Northern Ireland without electricity. North Ireland’s first minister had called for support following the devastation of the “once-in-a-generation” storm.
Scotland was also heavily affected by Eowyn, with its first minister, John Swinney, calling it a “warning that climate change is with us.” He said reconnecting tens of thousands of homes to electricity was a “colossal” task and that almost 8,000 remain unconnected.
Two young men were killed in separate incidents of falling trees in Scotland and Ireland.
Meteorologists have termed Eowyn a “bomb” cyclone for its rapid and severe intensification. Meteorologists Suzanne Gray and Ambrogio Volonté from the University of Reading wrote in The Conversation that a strong temperature contrast between the cold air in the eastern U.S. and warmer air in the western North Atlantic have made the jet stream over the North Atlantic Ocean stronger, which in turn fueled the storm’s development.
The strong jet stream was even reported to have pushed a British Airways flight to a near-record ground speed of 814 mph (1,310 km/h), just 21 mph (34 km/h) shy of the subsonic speed record of 835 mph (1344 km/h). By maximizing the tailwind, the Airbus A350 was able to reduce its flight time by an hour.
The link between climate change and the strong winds of storms like Eowyn is yet to be assessed, meteorologists told local media.
Gray and Volonté also wrote that “to date, the observed trends in storminess have not provided a conclusive link with climate change.”
Herminia has wreaked havoc in France as well, causing flooding that left cars submerged. The city of Rennes experienced its worst flooding in 40 years, the city’s mayor told media.
Residents in western France had to escape flooded homes using boats, AP reported, and around 400 residents had to be evacuated to gyms that have been turned into temporary shelters.
Banner image of St. Bernard’s Church in Ireland following Storm Éowyn, by Riversting via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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