European storm update

Hurricane strength winds battered parts of northwestern Europe on Monday, leaving more than a dozen people dead.

 

There was widespread travel disruption with hundreds of flights and trains cancelled across the area.

 

At least four people were killed in the UK and seven people are known to have died so far in Germany.

 

There were also fatalities in France, Denmark and the Netherlands as the storm brought down trees, blew roofs off houses and overturned large vehicles.

 

Uprooted trees smashed cars, homes and sank a houseboat on the Amsterdam canal. Several houseboats were also ripped from their moorings.

 

The winds exceeded 150kph as the storm swept across the low-lying Benelux countries.

 

Gust as high as 195 to 200kph were recorded on exposed parts of the north German coast as the storm swept through in the afternoon.

 

As evening fell there were no reports of injuries in Sweden, but there was widespread damage with roofs blown off buildings, trees downed and overturned lorries blocking roads.

 

A ferry ran aground on the southwest coast but the crew was not in danger.

 

The storm has moved very quickly across northern Europe and is now making its way across western Russia having weakened significantly.

 

We can now look forward a few days of sunshine and blustery showers.

 

Another area of low pressure is forecast to bring more strong winds across the UK this weekend.

 

The weather is likely to be rather stormy at times, but it will be nowhere near as destructive as the St Jude’s Day storm.