Over a dozen die as hurricane force winds hit northern Europe

More than a dozen people were killed as hurricane strength winds battered northern Europe yesterday, cutting power and forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights and train journeys.

At least seven people died in Germany while there were four deaths in Britain and fatalities in the Netherlands, Denmark and France as the storm, called St Jude, brought down trees, blew roofs off houses and turned over trucks, causing chaos across much of the region.

In Germany, falling trees killed several drivers, at least one man drowned and a 66-year-old woman died when a wall collapsed on her, German media reported.

The storm had barrelled in, with gusts of up to 160 km/ph, leaving a trail of damage across parts of southern Britain, before heading eastwards into mainland Europe.

Ferries which had been cancelled between Britain and Ireland are due to run today. Eurocontrol said the level of flight delay across Europe was much better today at quite low levels . London's Heathrow airport said operations were returning to normal.

Netherlands

Winds of more than 150 km/ph swept across the low-lying Netherlands, killing two. Uprooted trees smashed cars, homes and sank a houseboat on an Amsterdam canal. Roofs were blown off buildings and several houseboats were ripped from their moorings, police said.

A woman died in Amsterdam when a tree fell on her. A 24-year-old man who was struck on the head by a branch while cycling in the central city of Veenendaal died in hospital. The storm brought trains to a standstill across much of the country, and services had not fully resumed yesterday evening.

Fifty flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport were cancelled and Rotterdam Port, Europe’s busiest, said incoming and outgoing vessels were delayed.

France

In France, a 47-year-old woman was found dead after being swept out to sea during a cliff walk on Belle Ile, an island off France’s northwestern Brittany coast where the high winds generated waves of 5 to 6 metres, local authorities said.

Winds topping 100 km/ph struck the north and northwest of the country felling trees, whipping up seas and cutting power supplies to around 75,000 homes, according to the ERDF electricity distribution company.

Homes and businesses were counting the cost of the damage as a British Met Office spokeswoman said the worst of the storm in Britain had passed by late morning as it headed east.

Denmark

A Danish man was killed in Gilleleje, north of the capital Copenhagen, by a collapsing wall and a woman was injured when she was trapped under a fallen roof in the province of Jutland.

Nearly 1,100 passengers had to ride out the storm on a heaving ferry from Newcastle in Britain to the Dutch port of Ijmuiden after strong winds and heavy seas blocked it from docking in the morning. The ship returned to the North Sea to wait for the wind to die down rather than risk being smashed against the harbour’s walls, Teun-Wim Leene of DFDS Seaways told national broadcaster NOS.

Irishman

Irishman 51-year-old Donal Drohan, originally from Waterford, died after a tree fell on his car as he drove through Watford north of London shortly before 7am yesterday. Mr Drohan had been living in Harrow.

Tributes have been paid to Mr Drohan, described as “a loving husband and father of three”. His family said: “He was the best husband and father anyone could wish for. You couldn’t find anyone who had a bad word to say about him. He was very supportive to everybody who knew him and couldn’t say no to helping out with anything. He was an active member of the community who was involved with local groups and had recently helped Team Harrow of The Challenge Network helping to shape the lives of hundreds of young people within the local community.”

Mr Drohan was a long-serving local authority employee.

Susan Hall, leader of Harrow Council, said: “This is an absolute tragedy and everyone is devastated. Donal was one of our public realm managers and had worked for us for nearly 25 years. He was always cheerful, and passionate about his job keeping our streets clean. His council colleagues are finding this very hard to deal with. Our thoughts are with Donal’s family both here and in Ireland. ”

Bethany Freeman (17) was also killed as she lay sleeping when a tree fell on to the caravan she and her family were living in while renovation work was taking place at their home at Edenbridge in Kent.

A man and a woman were found dead in west London after several houses were damaged in a suspected gas explosion on a street where the storm blew a tree down. London police said the tree may have damaged gas pipes, causing the explosion. A crane smashed into the British cabinet office forcing deputy prime minister Nick Clegg to cancel a news conference.

Thin volumes on London’s financial markets suggested many traders had been stuck at home, along with millions of commuters who would normally head into London but were thwarted by train and Tube lines being shut by toppled trees and power failures. London’s Heathrow airport said 130 flights were cancelled.

Sweden

Gusts - in places above the 33 metres per second classified as hurricane force - battered Scandinavia from mid-afternoon yesterday, closing the bridge between Sweden and Denmark and paralysing road and rail transport.

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

A ferry ran aground off Karlskrona on southwest coast, but the Swedish Maritime Administrations said the 33-man crew were not in danger.

Power

Some 486,000 properties in Britain were left without power yesterday, UK Power Networks said, in one of the worst storms to hit England since the 1987 "Great Storm", which killed 18 people and felled around 15 million trees. Most of these were later restored with less than 100,000 left without power by Tuesday morning.

The Association of British Insurers said it was too early to give figures on the insured loss. The 1987 storm caused £2.2 billion (€2.62bn) of damage in today’s terms (£1 billion in 1987 money). The last comparable storm to Monday’s was in 2002, a Met Office spokesman said.

Reuters