At Least 12 Killed as Storms Lash Europe
Date: 19-Jan-07
Country: UK/ GERMANY
Author: Paul Majendie and Dave Graham
Britain was the worst hit with seven people killed as winds gusted up to 99 mph (159 kph).
Four motorists died as gales battered the country, two people were killed in the northern town of Manchester and a boy died after a wall collapsed on him in London.
Rescue services winched 26 sailors to safety after they were forced to abandon their container ship when it began sinking in stormy seas in the Channel.
Germans were told to stay indoors and many schools across the country closed early as rare hurricane-force winds bore down on them, killing at least three people and seriously disrupting air and rail travel.
Rescue services said they had mobilised extra staff to prepare for potential flooding and destructive winds.
"What's unusual about this storm is that it will affect the whole country and not just certain zones," said Christoph Hartmann, a spokesman for Germany's DWD meteorological service.
FALLING GLASS
Two people died in the Netherlands when an uprooted tree crushed their car, Dutch news agency ANP reported.
Winds gusting over 100 kph and heavy rains forced Dutch flight and rail cancellations, school closures and caused injuries in the worst storm in years.
The national crisis centre advised people to stay indoors. More than 30 accidents were reported.
Strong winds damaged the arched roof of Amsterdam's Central Station, with falling glass prompting authorities to ban passengers from platforms and stop trains from entering the station, a national rail service spokeswoman said.
The weather also disrupted shipping at Rotterdam's port, Europe's busiest, and caused an oil spill at one of its terminals when a drifting container ship bumped into an oil jetty.
In Ireland, where the meteorological office warned of winds gusting up to 140 kph on land and issued a gale warning at sea, flights were cancelled or delayed and most ferry sailings to Britain and France were called off.
Hungary's Disaster Defence authorities were on alert ahead of a projected storm which could bring winds of up to 130 kph by early Friday according to weather forecasters.
Disaster Defence spokesman Tibor Dobson said open-air public events planned for the next two days should be postponed.
A sudden storm during the Aug. 20 national day celebrations in Budapest killed two and injured over a hundred last year.
In Norway, the west coast city of Bergen had notched up 82 consecutive days of rain by Thursday.
(Additional reporting by Reuter bureaux across Europe)
