ITV News, on Climate, 29 October 2026

6.0out of 10Serious

Impact of storms sees wettest week in England for two years

Tap a highlight to see why it matters.2 findings

An average of 55mm of rain fell across England in the seven days to October 27, with as much as 76mm in the North West and 87mm in the South West. River levels have increased in many areas, with the Dart at Austins Bridge near Buckfastleigh in Devon classed as “exceptionally high”. Much of the country remains officially in drought, however, with a severe drought in place across parts of the South West and Sussex.

A downed tree in Gladstone Park, north-west London, following strong winds brought by Storm Austen Credit: Martin Evans/PA The impact of Austen and Boelo led to England seeing its wettest week since October 2024, the Environment Agency said on Thursday. Austen triggered an amber warning from the Met Office for strong winds and rain across Cornwall and parts of Devon on Friday October 23, along with a yellow warning for much of central and southern England.

Gusts reached nearly 80mph on the Isle of Wight, flights were cancelled and thousands of homes were left without power. Boelo arrived the following day, Saturday October 24, this time prompting an amber warning for wind over Scotland, with a yellow warning covering northern England. There was further travel disruption and many more homes lost power, with some still cut off on Wednesday. The downpours mean England has now received 11% more rainfall than the long-term average for October, according to the Environment Agency.

Left out here: Leaves out what changes the picture

ITV lists the storms' impacts as gusts, cancelled flights, travel disruption and power cuts, but never says the storms killed two people. LBC's coverage of the same storms refers to them battering Britain "killing two". A reader of this article would take the harm to have been disruption only.

How we know

River levels have increased at all but two of the sites the agency monitors.

Read the original article on itv.com (opens in a new tab)
What we found (2)

ITV News reports England's wettest week in two years after Storms Austen and Boelo, with rainfall figures, river levels, warnings and power cuts all clearly sourced to the Environment Agency and the Met Office. It never tells the reader that a warming climate makes heavy rainfall and drought like this more frequent or more severe, so the week reads as weather with no wider cause. It also leaves out that the storms killed two people, which other coverage of the same storms reported.

  1. Leaves out the climate link

    Serious

    “England has experienced its wettest week for two years, thanks to heavy rain from two named storms, Austen and Boelo.”

    Why this matters
    The opening sentence puts the record rainfall down to "heavy rain from two named storms" and stops there. The article then goes on to cover a severe drought in the same country without ever linking either extreme to warming.
    The impression it gives
    A reader comes away thinking the wettest week in two years, and the drought it failed to end, are ordinary swings in the weather with no wider cause.
    The context
    Human-caused warming has made heavy rainfall and agricultural and ecological drought more frequent or more severe. The article never uses the words climate, warming or climate change, not even in one short line.

    How we know

    • On the recordThat warming has made hot extremes, heavy rainfall, agricultural and ecological drought, fire weather and intense tropical cyclones more frequent or more severe.ipcc.ch (opens in a new tab)
    • On the recordIt is unequivocal that human influence, chiefly the burning of fossil fuels, has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land.ipcc.ch (opens in a new tab)
    • Checked against the whole articleIt never uses the words “climate” and “warming”.

    Show it in the article

    Written straight

    England has had its wettest week for two years after heavy rain from Storms Austen and Boelo, while much of the country remains in drought. Climate change is making both heavy rainfall and drought more frequent and more severe.

  2. Leaves out what changes the picture

    Minor

    What is missing

    ITV lists the storms' impacts as gusts, cancelled flights, travel disruption and power cuts, but never says the storms killed two people. LBC's coverage of the same storms refers to them battering Britain "killing two". A reader of this article would take the harm to have been disruption only.

    How we know

    Show where it belongs

How other outlets reported it

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