Purple wheelie bins had taken a tumble, a racing meet at nearby Aintree was abandoned and train timetables in and out of Lime Street were even more ruined than normal as Storm Boelo battered Merseyside.

Over at Anfield, high-flying Brighton were blown away by Storm Liverpool.

Two goals in four first-half minutes put the game beyond reach for Fabian Hurzeler’s admirable and exciting outfit as the Reds made it four wins in a row for Andoni Iraola, whose side are showing signs of cracking his complex style after a first month of fluctuating displays.

Alexander Isak will take the plaudits for Liverpool’s second goal, made by Bradley Barcola as the £248million double act combined again after doing so at Brentford last week, but fellow big-money boy Florian Wirtz deserved vast praise, too.

It was the £116m man at the heart of the first goal as his shot deflected in off Pascal Gross to open the scoring and continue his finest fortnight in a Liverpool shirt just minutes after Brighton had missed a sitter at the other end.

Isak’s Sweden team-mate, Yasin Ayari, would have been kept up all night in the team hotel by the inclement weather and his sleep would have been similarly interrupted on Sunday evening by replaying his gilt-edged miss after 14 minutes.

With the game level, Gross had squared to Ayari who seemingly had an empty goal to pass into – Alisson was stranded at his front post – but the midfielder leant back and fired his effort over the crossbar from 10 yards.

This is not to say Liverpool were lucky. Far from it – what followed was their best half an hour in a long time. But Brighton’s blunder was a moment of fortune similar to a schoolboy error that saw Brentford go down to 10 men last week.

Hurzeler’s side, remember, had travelled to Anfield – some of their fans flying straight here from Thursday’s Europa Conference League jaunt to Jablonec, Czechia – with a genuine question stalking every conversation about them.

‘They couldn’t, could they?’ was the debate in pubs around the country this week after they entered the weekend third in the league with four straight league wins by an aggregate score of 15-0, including a thorough dismantling of champions Arsenal.

Those conversations always featured tongues in cheek but would have turned at least semi-serious had Brighton rocked up at Anfield and won, especially with two trips to leaders Manchester City in the coming days (one in the Carabao Cup).

As it was, most queries about how high they can truly soar this year and whether they can be in the conversation for the top honours can be answered with: not with sloppy defending like this, no.

Both of Liverpool’s goals came from Albion falling asleep. First, the often-imperious Gross failed to clear his lines and passed straight to his Germany team-mate Wirtz to score, via a deflection off Brighton’s 35-year-old midfield maestro.

Then, Oliver Boscagli attempted to hook a ball downfield but only hit it into Barcola’s sternum. The Frenchman, a whippet with pace to burn, left Boscagli to chase his shadow and motored into the penalty area, squaring to Isak for a tap-in, his sixth strike of the season.

It was also Liverpool’s first league goal before half-time in a game at Anfield since early May. Isak might fade in and out of games but, when he is fit, he always is fancied to score.

Both of those goals were celebrated loudly at Anfield but the biggest cheer of the day came when the full-time score at Old Trafford was read out over the tannoy: Manchester United 0 Bournemouth 3.

The old enemies are here in four weeks and, be it Michael Carrick, Eddie Howe or whoever in the opposition dugout, the Anfield hierarchy has a tangible way of measuring Iraola’s work so far: after finishing below United last season, Liverpool are once again vastly superior.

Iraola has had to fight through some teething problems but the Reds have improved in every position since the new boss replaced Arne Slot. The big-money signings are flourishing, the new signings have taken to the league like ducks to water and the midfield muddle is no more.

Above all, Liverpool are exciting to watch again and have a long list of potential match-winners in Isak, Barcola, Wirtz et al, with Cody Gakpo, Rio Ngumoha and Co in reserve – plus several more on the treatment table.

Triumphing over Brentford and Brighton might not seem much to the traditionalists but those two teams can beat anyone and this has been a significant fortnight for Iraola, especially after getting thrashed 3-0 by Manchester City.

The next week or so will offer further important data for just how far this team has come since the insipid days of Slot’s second season. Chelsea are at Anfield on Wednesday in the Carabao Cup, then Arsenal are in town before trips to Fenerbahce and Crystal Palace.

A possible slow start for Iraola was well signposted with the Basque going winless in his first nine games at former employers Bournemouth. After those shaky beginnings, the Cherries only went one way, with Iraola laying the foundations of their fairytale week now with wins over AC Milan and Manchester United.

Maybe Iraola’s Reds will follow the same trajectory. Beat Arsenal this time next week and the possibilities are endless. Maybe they will even replace Brighton in those questions about title races.