Four dead as storm brings fierce winds to Europe
Strong winds cause widespread travel disruption in Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Britain and Germany
BERLIN: At least four people were reportedly killed as a powerful storm swept across Europe on Thursday, bringing widespread travel disruption to Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Britain and Germany.
A man was killed by a falling tree branch in the eastern Dutch town of Olst, while another was killed when a falling tree hit the car he was driving near the German border, police in the Netherlands said.
In Belgium, a woman was killed when a tree fell on her car early on Thursday as she drove through a forest 30 kilometres south-east of Brussels, the Belga news agency reported.
Italy was hit with strong winds of up to 200 kilometres per hour (kmph), causing property damage, train and ferry cancellations, road closures, and the death of a man in the southern region of Calabria.
The man climbed on the roof of his brother’s house in the town of Crotone, and fell to his death due to strong winds.
Public transport was also disrupted in other parts of the continent.
Train services in the German state of North Rhine Westphalia were completely suspended. Regional and long-distance train services were both affected, rail operator Deutsche Bahn said. Express services in other parts of the country were running at reduced speeds.
Munich airport reported flight cancellations as a result of the storm, which has been dubbed “Friederike” in Germany.
The Dutch weather service issued a red alert as it expected winds to reach 140 kmph. All train services and flights were suspended on Thursday afternoon. Some 260 flights were cancelled Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport Thursday morning before the at on suspension, and passengers were warned to expect delays, the airport reported.
Several lorries were blown over in the winds and were blocking motorways.
Belgian railway traffic was slightly disrupted due to items blown onto the tracks, including a trampoline in one instance. The port of Ghent was also closed on Thursday, Belga wrote.
In Germany, direct access to Cologne’s famed cathedral was restricted out of safety concerns, a spokesman for the city authorities said
Meanwhile, several helicopter flights were halted on Thursday from the Norwegian mainland to oil and gas platforms in the North Sea due to storms, thunder and lightning, public broadcaster NRK reported.
Later on Thursday some flights resumed to the southern Ekofisk oil field from Sola, western Norway.
The helicopters are used to transport personnel to and from the platforms.
Thirty-eight people remained evacuated in central Norway over fears of flooding caused by an avalanche that blocked parts of a river. Work was under way to remove ice and snow blocking the Driva river in the Oppdal district.
In Britain, meanwhile, strong wind blew down fences and allowed a wolf to escape from its enclosure at the Wolf Conservation Trust in Berkshire, west of London, the BBC reported.
Many areas of Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland were hit by gales and heavy. snow, leaving dozens of motorists stranded on snowbound roads.
Some schools were closed in Northern Ireland, while the weather disrupted rail and other transport services in many parts of Britain.
Winds gusted at up to 133 kilometres per hour in England on Thursday, while snow lay up to 35 centimetres deep in parts of Scotland, Britain’s Met Office said.