Jan 24 2009
Death toll rises due to fierce storm in Europe
Hurricane force winds that hit Northern Spain has been declared as the fiercest of all recorded in a decade. In separate incidents in Spain as well as South Western France, eleven people are feared killed due to the storm . The speed of the torrential rains and winds has been reported to be 172 Km/h.
Airports were closed and road and rail links were blocked and over 1.5 million homes suffered power cuts in France.
Although the strongest winds were concentrated in southwest France, the impact of the storm was felt from Channel Isles to Barcelona.
According to BBC meteorologist Alex Deakin,
Although this type of active low-pressure system is fairly common in winter, Saturday’s storm is being described as the most damaging since that of December 1999, which killed 88 people.
Four children were killed as the roof of a sports hall fell near Barcelona. About 20 – 30 youngsters had gathered to play baseball but were taking shelter from the fierce winds in the sports hall when this incident occurred.
