VARIOUS: At least 27 people are killed as gale-force winds and heavy rains hit northwestern Europe, causing travel havoc

Record ID: 332920

  • Title: VARIOUS: At least 27 people are killed as gale-force winds and heavy rains hit northwestern Europe, causing travel havoc
  • Date: 19th January 2007
  • Summary: STEEL GIRDER WHICH FELL FROM SIDE OF BUILDING LYING ON STAIRS / LOOSE SECOND GIRDER BELIEVED TO FALL NEXT
  • Embargoed: 3rd February 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,Weather
  • Reuters ID: LVABVQAAJE5XCK0ZJANH1WQCZNQH
  • Story Text: At least 27 people have been killed as gale-force winds and heavy rains hit northwestern Europe, causing travel havoc.
    Germany faced further disruptions to rail and air travel on Friday (January 19) after hurricane-force winds whipped across the country overnight, causing at least seven deaths and leaving thousands of households without electricity.
    Berlin central railway station, Europe's biggest rail crossing hub, remained closed after the wind ripped a steel support weighing several tonnes from the facade and hurled it to the ground late on Thursday (January 18) .
    As a local television report was being filed outside the camera caught the moment the girder fell. Other supports were hanging loose on Friday morning (January 19).
    National rail operator Deutsche Bahn practically shut down its rail service overnight.
    Deutsche Bahn expected major disruptions to its services on Friday.
    The storm, "Kyrill", generated winds of up to 200 km/h (124 mph), uprooting trees, damaging buildings and leaving thousands of people without electricity. In the state of Brandenburg alone over 150,000 households suffered power cuts overnight.
    Hans-Werner Meienberg, head of the centre for disaster control in Brandenburg, said that there were almost 60,000 households without electricity.
    The death toll from the storm rose to seven late on Thursday when a fireman was killed by a falling tree in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, a police spokesman said.
    In the northern port city of Hamburg, firefighters continued clean-up work by cutting fallen trees from parked cars and streets.
    Britain was recovering on Friday from the worst storms for 17 years that killed at least 12 people, caused travel chaos and left a trail of destruction.
    Heathrow Airport said short-haul and domestic flights were suffering some cancellations and delays. Some flights arrived in Britain but some passengers complained about the flights.
    "There were some rolls, some screams, a couple of people crying, a lot of people unfortunately, being sick," said one traveller after landing at Manchester airport.
    Gusts of up to 99 mph uprooted trees, tore off roofs and blew down scaffolding across the country. A passenger in a car in Streatley was killed when a tree fell on a car.
    Railway agency 'Network Rail' said the gales had caused more than 1,000 incidents of debris and obstruction on railway tracks on Thursday.
    Power was cut from thousands of homes as flying debris brought down electricity cables.
    In north London a two-year-old boy was killed when a wall fell on him.
    In Manchester a man died when he was blown over and hit his head while opening the doors of his van.
    Other victims of the savage storms included the managing director of Birmingham International Airport, Richard Heard, who was killed when a tree fell on his car in Shropshire.
    A female truck driver died when her vehicle came off a bridge on the Skipton bypass in North Yorkshire, landing upside down, partly in a canal.
    The British Meteorological Office said widespread gusts of 70-80 mph were reported across all of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with gales peaking at 99 mph at the Needles off the Isle of Wight.
    It said they were the worst gales to hit Britain since the Burns' Day storm of 25 January 1990.
    In the Belgian capital Brussels, people fought the wind to cross the road without being thrown over by the force of the storm.
    In Wepion, in the province of Namur, Michel Abraham employed the services of a local professional climber to clear the roof of his house after two trees fell onto it. Local firefighting services were unable to answer his call, due to the high number of call-outs because of the fierce weather.
    Police, rescue services and firefighters were stretched to the limit as the storm uprooted trees, causing some to fall on cars, battered buildings and caused transport delays in Belgium.
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