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

Dozens of schools in Cornwall also affected as another storm heads for Scotland, Northern Ireland and the 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. Just before 11am, more than 16,000 homes in the south-west were without power, according to National Grid.