A total of 15 people have been killed during storms that have battered parts of northern Spain and southwest France over the past two days.
Four children aged from nine to 12 years were killed yesterday when a sports centre collapsed near Barcelona in strong winds.
At least 11 adults were killed in separate incidents in Spain and France yesterday as gales buffeted the region for a second day, cutting power, disrupting flights and blocking roads. Forest fires, one caused by felled power lines, raged in Spain.
In the sports centre disaster, winds of more than 100 km/h ripped the metal roof off a building next to a baseball court in Sant Boi, causing the breeze block walls to collapse inwards.
Four children, members of a junior baseball team, were killed, local authorities said. Nine people were injured, including seven children.
A policeman was killed by a falling tree in Galicia, northern Spain yesterday, a police spokesman said, while a 52-year-old woman was killed when a wall collapsed on her as she walked down a street in Barcelona on Friday.
A 51-year-old man was killed by a falling wall in Alicante, authorities said, while two more adults were killed by falling trees in Catalonia yesterday. A Portuguese man died after being rescued from a ship in high seas off the coast of Galicia and a 73-year-old woman was killed when a door blew on top of her in the northern province of Burgos, local authorities said.
The Spanish army stepped in to help fight a forest fire in La Nucia, north of Benidorm in Alicante, started by an electricity pylon felled by gales, the Ministry of Defence said. Thousands were evacuated from nearby housing estates. Forest fires also raged in the region of Catalonia, putting emergency services on high alert, authorities said.
In France, gales cut power supplies to around 1.7 million homes and closed roads, railways and airports.
Local authorities in the Landes area said a 50-year-old man was killed when a tree fell on a car. A 78-year-old man died in his garden when he was hit by a piece of debris. The body of a third victim, a 75-year-old man, was found crushed by a tree.
Later, French state television reported that an elderly woman died when her respiratory support machine failed because of a power cut caused by the storm.
Tens of thousands in Spain were left without power and gales disrupted flights and rail travel. Waves of more than 20 metres were registered off the northern coast and high winds stranded dolphins on beaches in the region.
Winds of up to 190 km an hour paralysed southwest France. The French weather agency Meteo France placed the region on red alert and asked residents to stay indoors for their own safety.
French agriculture minister Michel Barnier said the storm was the worst since 1999, when a huge storm killed 88 people, and said France would call on the European Union to help fund reconstruction efforts.
President Nicolas Sarkozy is due to travel to the affected area today.