Hurricane-force winds hit northern U.K.

[melnjones]

LONDON - Hurricane-force winds and heavy downpours hammered northern Europe on Thursday, killing 27 people and disrupting travel for tens of thousands — including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, whose plane circled for 15 minutes before landing amid winds gusting to 77 mph.

The storms were among the fiercest in years, ripping off part of the roof at Lord's Cricket Ground in London, toppling a crane in the Netherlands and upending trucks on Europe's busiest highway.

By evening, weather-related accidents had killed 27 people, including a 2-year-old boy hit by falling brick from a toppled wall in London.
...snip...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070119/ap_on_re_eu/northern_europe_storm


Sorry if this is already posted somewhere- I looked and didn't see it.

[jobycom]

1. Sure it wasn't giants and altered memories?

Sorry, too much Harry Potter.

Though, if you skim the first line rather quickly, you could get the impression I did at first: Hurricane force winds hammered northern Europe, killing 27 people... including Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice... At that point, I did a quick backtrack to see what I had missed. I didn't think such a story would be mentioned incidentally in a weather story, but given the disdain for her, who knows?

[melnjones]

3. I did that too!!!

I think my heart actually stopped for a second, I was so shocked. Then I reread the sentence, lol. I'm not a fan of Rice, but I certainly don't want to see American leaders dying.

[jobycom]

4. No kidding. Not the least of reasons because

they'd turn her into a glorious saint if she did!

[spindrifter]

2. This storm is really phenomenal--

from what I can tell the European part is related not only to the hinky dip in a really fast jet stream, but also a phenomenon where icy air is falling down onto warm air almost like an avalanche. That is why the storm is maintaining such high winds so far inland. We are used to the path over land knocking down the energy level. Really weird.

[CHIMO]

5. Deadly storm batters Europe

Deadly storm batters Europe
Britain and Germany hit hardest, with at least 27 dead overall in several countries
Last Updated: Friday, January 19, 2007 | 12:02 AM ET
CBC News

The worst storm in years is pounding Northern Europe, killing at least 27 people, knocking out power for tens of thousands and bringing most travel to a standstill.

Britain and Germany were hit hardest, with snow, rain and wind gusts reaching up to 190 kilometres per hour in some areas on Thursday. Scotland saw up to 25 centimetres of snow.

At least nine people were reported dead in Britain alone, including a two-year-old boy who was killed by a falling wall in London.

Winds of up to 160 km/h roared through England. Many roads in the capital were closed because of debris blowing off buildings.

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/01/18/europe-storm.html

[msongs]

6. wow 9 inches of snow - that is a new ice age for sure. bad winds tho nt

[rwenos]

7. I think Bill Clinton Caused It! nt

[T_i_B]

8. It didn't just hit Northern UK

It hit all of England. Down South we've had all manner of problems with this.

[phantom power]

9. Good god, old chap! Lord's Cricket Ground???

The phrase "reaping the whirlwind" comes to mind, for some reason.

[donsu]

10. the death count is in the 40's now - read it and gasp

http://home.bellsouth.net/s/editorial.dll?pnum=1&bfromind=2214&eeid=5113894&_sitecat=1505&dcatid=0&eetype=article&render=y&ac=3&ck=&ch=ne&rg=blsadstrgt


Storms in Europe Kill 46, Disrupt Travel

Europeans labored Friday to restore services across the continent after hurricane-force winds toppled trees, brought down power lines and damaged buildings, killing at least 46 people and disrupting travel for tens of thousands.

Berlin's new main train station was shut down after a two-ton girder fell from the side of the glass facade onto an outdoor staircase. The station was evacuated after the beam plummeted 130 feet Thursday night, but there were no injuries.

-snip-

Virtually the entire German national railway system shut down during the storm, with trees over many tracks and overhead power lines down, and services were being restored gradually Friday.

-snip-

More than 1 million homes had no electricity in the Czech Republic, which was hit by winds of up to 112 mph, another 1 million households in Germany suffered power losses, while tens of thousands in Poland and Austria also were hit with outages.

The flow of Russian oil through a Ukrainian pipeline to other parts of Europe was restored Friday after a temporary shutdown caused when the storm knocked out power to a pumping station. The interruption occurred Thursday night on a section of the Druzhba, or Friendship, pipeline from the city of Brody in western Ukraine to Slovakia and Hungary, but Oleksandr Dikusarov, a spokesman for the Ukrtransnafta pipeline company, said the flow of oil was fully restored Friday afternoon.

The storm led to the deaths of at least three people in the Czech Republic, 12 in Germany, 14 in Britain, six in the Netherlands, three in France, two in Belgium and six in Poland.
-snip-
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