Storm Austen brought heavy rain and travel disruption to Ireland as French authorities ordered sweeping rail restrictions for Friday, October 23. Weather warnings also covered much of the UK, where some schools closed or delayed opening and ferry crossings were cancelled.

Met Éireann, Ireland’s weather service, named Austen as the first storm of the 2026/2027 season. Another system, Storm Boelo, was forecast to follow over the weekend, bringing further strong winds and rain.

France suspends trains and restricts road traffic

SNCF Réseau, the French rail network manager, said services would be suspended on many lines in Île-de-France, the region surrounding Paris. Trains still running, including RER suburban services, would face speed limits.

All rail traffic in Normandy was scheduled to stop on Friday, with partial suspensions in Brittany and on the Nord network. Services could resume gradually only when weather conditions allowed and safety checks had been completed.

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Météo-France, the national weather service, issued orange wind alerts for Brittany, Normandy and Loire-Atlantique for Thursday night into Friday. Alerts were also scheduled from Friday midday for Nord, Pas-de-Calais, Somme, Yvelines and Val-d’Oise.

In Orne, a department in Normandy, the prefect imposed restrictions on national roads for vehicles over 3.5 tonnes, vehicles towing trailers, two-wheelers and motorhomes. Overtaking was prohibited for those vehicles, and their maximum permitted speed was reduced by 20 km/h.

Irish flood preparations as UK ferries are cancelled

In Ireland, orange rain warnings covered Cork, Kerry and Waterford until early Friday. Orange alerts also covered Dublin, Wexford and Wicklow, as heavy rain disrupted early-morning journeys.

Emergency crews deployed sandbags and pumps in Cork. In nearby Midleton, authorities prepared more than 1,000 sandbags and mobilised a flood pump as rivers and coastal areas faced heightened flood risks.

Across the UK, the Met Office forecast gusts of 45–60 mph, roughly 70–95 km/h, across much of England and Wales. Gusts could reach 70 mph in some places under yellow wind warnings.

Parts of Scotland also faced wind warnings and heavy rain. The Met Office forecast 20–40 mm of rainfall, with up to 80 mm locally and a risk of flooding.

Some schools closed or planned later opening times to avoid the strongest winds, the BBC reported. Cancelled ferry sailings included crossings between Pembrokeshire in southwest Wales and Ireland.

Boelo forecast to follow over the weekend

The Met Office forecast that Boelo, a separate storm system, would bring strong winds and rain to Northern Ireland, Scotland and parts of northern England. Widespread gusts of 50–65 mph were expected, reaching 80 mph, about 130 km/h, in exposed locations.

Bill Deger, an expert meteorologist at forecasting service AccuWeather, said the storms could have compounding effects. Areas hit by damaging winds and heavy rain from Austen could have little time to recover before Boelo arrived.