Record-breaking winds in France and across much of Western Europe left at least seven people dead and injured others as Storm Ciaran swept through the continent overnight and into Thursday. The storn plunged vast numbers into darkness, devastated homes and caused travel mayhem in several countries.
Winds of more than 190 kph (118 mph) slammed the northern tip of France's Atlantic Coast, uprooting trees and blowing out windows.
A truck driver was killed when his vehicle was hit by a tree in northern France's inland Aisne region, Transport Minister Clement Beaune said.
Meanwhile a 70-year-old man in the port city of Le Havre, Normandy, died in a fall from his balcony. Local media outlet FranceBleu quoted a prosecutor as saying it appeared the victim was closing his shutters amid a gust of wind when he fell at noon Thursday.
Another person was badly injured at a university in the northern city of Roubaix, and 15 other people were hurt around western and northern France, authorities announced. Seven of the injured were emergency workers.
Winds ripped off roofing
Huge waves slammed into French ports and shorelines, as wind flattened street signs and ripped off roofing. Felled trees blocked roads around western France, according to Associated Press reporters and images on French media and social networks.
About 1.2 million French households were left without electricity on Thursday, electrical utility Enedis said in a statement. That includes about half of the homes in Brittany, the Atlantic peninsula hardest hit by Ciaran. Enedis said it would deploy 3,000 workers to restore power when conditions allowed.
The wind reached up to around 160 kph (100 mph) on the Normandy coast and up to around 150 kph (93 mph) inland. Local trains were canceled across a swath of western France, and all roads in the Finistere region of Brittany were closed Thursday morning.
Several killed by trees
In Spain, where the storm battered much of the country with heavy rains and gale force winds, emergency services in Madrid said a woman died Thursday after a tree fell on her. Three other people were slightly injured in the incident on a city center street. Parks in the capital and other cities in Spain were closed, and several trains and flights were canceled.
Two people were killed by falling branches in central Ghent, Belgium, including a 5-year-old child who was taken to hospital but died a few hours later. A 3-year-old was slightly injured in the same incident, said the Ghent prosecutor's office in a statement. Another tree hit three German tourists in the central Ghent Citadel Park, killing a 64-year-old woman instantly. Her daughter was seriously injured but the father was unhurt.
Local and national authorities had warned residents not to get close to green spaces for fear of falling trees. Belgian media also reported that in the port city of Antwerp, one man was seriously injured when a wall collapsed under the pressure from the relentless high winds.
A storm warning was issued for the North Sea coast in Germany, and a warning of high winds for part of the Baltic Sea coast. Authorities said that a 46-year-old woman was fatally injured by a falling tree in the Harz mountains in northern Germany.
Thousands were also without power in the United Kingdom. Sharp gusts blew roofs off buildings and toppled trees. Some had to evacuate their homes and seek refuge in hotels as Ciaran pummeled the south of England.
Hundreds of schools stayed closed in the southwest England coastal communities of Cornwall and Devon, as downed trees and flooding hindered morning commutes across the southeast.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency urged people to keep away from the coast.
Simon Partridge, senior meteorologist at U.K. government weather agency the Met Office, said just after 1330 GMT (9:30 a.m. EDT) that for England at least, "thankfully the worst of it is over."
"The storm itself is off the East Anglian Coast, it's just gone into the southern North Sea, and ... it's starting to lose the energy it had when it first arrived," he said.
The area of low pressure was now filling, Partridge explained, saying the system would continue to weaken over the next 12 hours.
But a lot of rain associated with the storm was still to fall, he cautioned, singling out North Wales, the West Midlands and East Coast for downpours.
"We're not quite out of the woods just yet," he added.
Flooding expected
Britain's Environment Agency urged people to prepare for inland flooding, as some river levels remain high, together with ground that is saturated. By just after midday, there were 82 flood warnings, meaning flooding is expected, and 197 flood alerts, meaning flooding is possible, in place across England.
Dutch media reported that several people had been hit by falling trees in different parts of the Netherlands, one person killed in the southern town of Venray.
Dutch airline KLM scrapped all flights leaving and arriving in the Netherlands from the early afternoon until the end of the day, citing the high sustained wind speeds and powerful gusts expected in the country.
