Europe tries to recover from severe weather

21/01/2007| IslamWeb

Workers across Europe hauled away fallen trees and repaired power lines Friday after the deadliest storm to strike the continent in eight years killed at least 47 people and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.

Trains started rolling again after a near-total shutdown during Thursday night's hurricane-force winds. Airports from London to Frankfurt reported some delays and cancellations, but were returning to normal.

The disruption hit countries from Britain to Ukraine, where the flow of Russian oil through a key pipeline to Europe was temporarily halted after power to a pumping station was knocked out.

The storm knocked out electricity to more than 1 million homes in the Czech Republic, which was hit by winds of up to 112 mph. Ladislav Kriz, spokesman for the main Czech CEZ utility, said Friday night that power was restored to most of the homes affected by the storm, although about 170,000 customers were still without electricity.

One million households in Germany and tens of thousands of homes in Poland and Austria also lost power.

EDF Energy in Britain said Friday it had restored power to more than 90 percent of the 350,000 customers cut off the night before, and Scottish Power said about 30,000 of its customers remained without electricity.

Stormy weather had been predicted this year for parts of Europe, with researchers saying unusually high temperatures in the North Atlantic would allow winds to accumulate more moisture and surge in energy.

The storm killed 14 people in Britain, 12 in Germany, six each in the Netherlands and Poland, four in the Czech Republic, three in France, and two in Belgium.

It was the highest death toll from a European storm since 1999, when gales downed trees and driving snow brought on avalanches, killing more than 120 people.

Germany's GDV insurance association put insured losses at 1.3 billion US dollar in that country, and the Union of Insurers in the Netherlands estimated damage there at 207 million US dollar.

Association of British Insurers spokesman Malcolm Tarling said initial estimates suggested damage from the storm there could be hundreds of millions of dollars.

The head of Germany's national railroad, Deutsche Bahn, said the company would start assessing the cost of the damage after an unprecedented near-total shutdown. After thousands of travelers were stranded, Hartmut Mehdorn said that "we can't compensate everyone."

In the British capital, London Bridge station reopened after being closed when part of a roof collapsed.

PHOTO CAPTION

Huge waves in the port of Wimereux, northern France. (AFP)