Storm Ravaging Europe, Killing Several
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
ROME/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Parts of Europe have been hit by a deadly storm that also saw flooding, leaving at least 14 people dead, including in Italy, where some areas recorded their worst rainfall in 100 years.
The Italian Civil Protection said that Storm Ciarán brought 200 millimeters (nearly eight inches) of rain in three hours from the coastal city of Livorno to the inland valley of Mugello, causing riverbanks to overflow.
Video showed at least a dozen cars getting swept down a flooded road.
Tuscany region Governor Eugenio Giani explained that six people were confirmed dead in the storm, “which dumped an amount of rainfall not recorded in the last 100 years.”
However, at least two people were missing Friday in Tuscany, along with an off-duty firefighter reported missing in the mountains of Veneto, north of Venice, officials said.
Throughout the day, the storm brought more death and destruction as it moved eastward across the continent. In Albania, police said a motorist died when he lost control while driving a car, which slid and hit barriers. Many roads in the country were flooded, including in the capital, Tirana.
Giant waves battered the Adriatic shores of the Balkans, and strong winds uprooted trees and ripped off roofs. Ferries connecting Croatia’s islands with the coastline were halted.
STRONG WINDS
Winds of 207 kilometers per hour (129 miles per hour) were also recorded earlier on the northwest coast of France as the storm lashed southern England, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany, as well as the Atlantic coast of Spain and Portugal.
The storm claimed at least four lives in Western Europe, including two in France and a further two in Belgium, authorities said.
A truck driver was killed after being hit by a falling branch while driving, according to the French Transport Minister Clément Beaune in an interview with French broadcaster Franceinfo. The second victim was a 70-year-old man who died in Le Havre after falling while attempting to close his balcony shutters, according to France’s interior ministry.
In neighboring Belgium, a 65-year-old woman and a 5-year-old child were killed in the city of Ghent after being hit by branches in two separate incidents, the East Flanders public prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
The storm also impacted infrastructure, with some 1.2 million people without power in France, most of them in the northwestern region of Brittany, French energy supplier Enedis said in a statement.
Fallen trees and electricity pylons uprooted by the storm were blamed for the cuts. Enedis said it mobilized around 3,000 workers and 30 helicopters to re-establish power in affected areas.
The storm also hit the British Isles and the Channel Islands, where red alert warnings are in place. On the island of Jersey, all schools and the airport were closed, according to the government’s website.
BLOCKING SCHOOLS
In Britain’s southwestern county of Cornwall, 8,500 people were without electricity, the local council said on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Trees reportedly blocked dozens of roads, and over 100 schools were closed.
Local media images showed waves crashing into and breaching sea walls in the southwestern English county of Cornwall.
Train and air traffic were also impacted by the storm, leaving passengers stranded at airports and stations.
Yet amid the misery, in the Dutch city of The Hague, a woman miraculously survived when a big tree fell on her, security footage seen by Worthy News showed.
She was brought to a hospital with leg and shoulder injuries, witnesses said.
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