// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Storm Austen brings power cuts and travel disruption as more wind and rain forecast
Watch: 15,000 homes without power as Storm Austen batters Britain
More than 10,000 homes are without power as Storm Austen continues to batter southern England and Wales, with more bad weather expected this weekend.
The first named storm of the season brought gusts of up to 84mph (135km/h) to Jersey, while in southern England the wild weather disrupted travel with fallen trees blocking railway lines and roads.
In Brighton, part of the iconic West Pier - an abandoned structure that first opened in 1866 - collapsed into the sea.
On Saturday, Storm Boelo is forecast to bring more strong winds and heavy rain. The Met Office has put in place an amber warning for wind on Saturday and Sunday to cover parts of Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland.
Austen made landfall in the south-west overnight and tracked eastwards throughout the day. All schools on Jersey and Guernsey closed for the day and some in Cornwall were closed or started later than normal.
Ahead of the worst of the storm on Thursday afternoon, families were evacuated from a holiday park in Perranporth, Cornwall. Among them was Hannah Dawson-Turk, who told the BBC "the night before last, it sounded like our caravan was going to be ripped apart".
"The storm is very loud outside now, and the waves look huge from our windows," she said from a nearby hotel.
Choppy seas led to a dramatic display at Newhaven, East Sussex
The National Grid said engineers had restored power to more than 60,000 properties since Storm Austen began.