More than seven killed as winds, rain thrash northern Europe
31 Oct 2013 4:58 AM IST
Hurricane strength winds battered Britain, the Netherlands and Scandinavia on Monday, killing at least seven people, cutting power and forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights and train journeys.
Gusts of up to 99 mph (160 kph) lashed southern England and Wales in the worst storm recorded in Britain in a decade. A Danish man was killed when the storm later struck Scandinavia with undiminished force.
Southern Sweden was hit by torrential rain, and winds up to 38 meters per second blew down trees, blocking roads and bringing down power lines, leaving around than 50,000 households without electricity.
The storm had barrelled in overnight, leaving a trail of damage across parts of southern Britain as the rush hour commute began as well as hitting northern France and the Netherlands.
A 17-year-old girl was killed when a tree fell onto her home while she slept in Kent, southeast of London, while a man in his 50s was killed when a tree crushed his car in the town of Watford, just north of the capital.
A man and a woman were found dead in west London after several houses were damaged in a suspected gas explosion on a street where the storm blew a tree down. London police said the tree may have damaged gas pipes, causing the explosion.
A crane smashed into the Cabinet Office, a ministry in the heart of London, forcing Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to cancel a news conference.
Thin volumes on London’s financial markets suggested many traders had been stuck at home, along with millions of commuters who would normally head into London but were thwarted by train and Tube lines being shut by toppled trees and power failures. London’s Heathrow airport said 130 flights were cancelled.
Passenger Nozipho Mtshede said she was going to miss her father’s funeral in Zimbabwe due to her flight being delayed eight hours: ‘I won’t make it because they can’t keep him so I’ll have to miss his burial.’
Gusts of up to 99 mph (160 kph) lashed southern England and Wales in the worst storm recorded in Britain in a decade. A Danish man was killed when the storm later struck Scandinavia with undiminished force.
Southern Sweden was hit by torrential rain, and winds up to 38 meters per second blew down trees, blocking roads and bringing down power lines, leaving around than 50,000 households without electricity.
The storm had barrelled in overnight, leaving a trail of damage across parts of southern Britain as the rush hour commute began as well as hitting northern France and the Netherlands.
A 17-year-old girl was killed when a tree fell onto her home while she slept in Kent, southeast of London, while a man in his 50s was killed when a tree crushed his car in the town of Watford, just north of the capital.
A man and a woman were found dead in west London after several houses were damaged in a suspected gas explosion on a street where the storm blew a tree down. London police said the tree may have damaged gas pipes, causing the explosion.
A crane smashed into the Cabinet Office, a ministry in the heart of London, forcing Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to cancel a news conference.
Thin volumes on London’s financial markets suggested many traders had been stuck at home, along with millions of commuters who would normally head into London but were thwarted by train and Tube lines being shut by toppled trees and power failures. London’s Heathrow airport said 130 flights were cancelled.
Passenger Nozipho Mtshede said she was going to miss her father’s funeral in Zimbabwe due to her flight being delayed eight hours: ‘I won’t make it because they can’t keep him so I’ll have to miss his burial.’
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