Become an Independent member to bookmark this article Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Join today Already a member? Log in Storm Boelo sees flights and ferries cancelled and multiple A roads closed Maryam Zakir-Hussain , Shweta Sharma & Dan Haygarth Sunday 25 October 2026 11:29 GMT Bookmark popover Removed from bookmarks Close popover Storm Boelo leaves Scottish high street under floodwater Storm Boelo has caused widespread disruption across the UK, leaving thousands of homes without power and delaying more than 1,500 flights.
The Met Office issued amber severe weather warnings for northern England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Transport services have been heavily impacted, with cancelled ferries, train disruptions, and several major A roads closed due to fallen trees and power lines. Peak wind speeds reached 82mph on the island of Tiree in the Inner Hebrides early on Sunday morning. Scotland's environmental agency has issued 29 flood warnings and 11 flood alerts due to heavy rain and powerful winds.
In full Storm Boelo latest: Thousands without power and hundreds of flights cancelled as 80mph winds batter UK
The Independent reports Storm Boelo's disruption across the UK, including heavy rain, 29 flood warnings and a Scottish high street under floodwater. It never says that warming makes heavy rainfall and the flooding that follows more frequent or more severe.
Leaves out the climate link
Serious
“Scotland's environmental agency has issued 29 flood warnings and 11 flood alerts due to heavy rain and powerful winds.”
Why this matters
The Independent reports 29 flood warnings and 11 flood alerts caused by heavy rain, and leaves the cause of the storm's rain as weather alone.
The impression it gives
A reader takes the heavy rain and flooding as a routine autumn storm with no link to a warming climate.
The context
Human-caused warming has made heavy rainfall more frequent and more intense. The article has no word on climate or warming anywhere.
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”.
“Storm Boelo leaves Scottish high street under floodwater”
Why this matters
The Independent shows a high street underwater in its caption and treats the flooding only as a disruption story.
The impression it gives
A reader sees the flooding as bad luck from one storm, with nothing about why such flooding is getting worse.
The context
Warming loads the dice for heavy rainfall and the flooding that follows it. The article never says so, even in one 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)
Checked against the whole articleIt never uses the words “warming”.
Scotland's environmental agency has issued 29 flood warnings and 11 flood alerts due to heavy rain and powerful winds. Climate change is making heavy rainfall like this more frequent and more intense.