Storm winds lash northern Europe


At least 14 people have been killed and thousands left without power as hurricane-strength winds lashed parts of northern Europe.

At least 11 people were reported killed in Sweden and Denmark and more than 400,000 homes left without power.

In Britain, three people died after floods hit the north of England city of Carlisle affecting thousands of homes.

Airports, rail networks, bridges and roads were closed and dozens of North Sea ferry routes were cancelled.

In southern Sweden, two nuclear reactors were temporarily shut down and 405,000 homes in the region were without electricity.

Thousands of people in Carlisle were moved into temporary accommodation as some 70,000 homes lost power in the flooding.

Many thousands of households in Denmark and Norway also suffered power cuts.

'Electricity crisis'

The Baltic states were also badly hit, with flooding in many coastal towns.

Estonia suffered power cuts, and Latvia's government declared an electricity crisis after 60% of the country's 2.4 million population were left without power.

"Trees are falling like bowling pins out there" -Swedish emergency chief Jonas Petri

In the Russian city of St Petersburg shut six underground stations and closed off embankments to traffic because of the risk of flooding.

Bridges, ferries and trains in the north German state of Schleswig-Holstein were also shut.

On Scotland's west coast, a ferry ran aground and the 100 people on board had to remain there overnight.

At least four motorists were killed in Sweden when trees were blown onto their cars, and three other people died in winds that reached speeds of up to 94 mph (150km/h).

Record storm

In Denmark, two died when uprooted trees were flung onto their vehicles and a further two were killed due to a dislodged roof.

In northern England, a man was crushed after a barn collapsed on his caravan and two elderly women died in flooded properties, police said.

Emergency services described hazardous conditions as they tried to reach people in need of help.

"We have a very chaotic situation here. Emergency crews that are out on the roads are telling me that trees are falling like bowling pins out there," emergency crew chief Jonas Petri told Swedish news agency, TT.

The Tallinn weather station reported 12-metre high waves in the Gulf of Finland.

Weather forecasters in Britain said this was probably one of the worst storms for 16 years.

But the storm does appear to be weakening as it heads across Russia.

Edited to add link - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4158809.stm
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Everyone okay here?

Lord have mercy.

is there any where to go online to see if they are ok|? I have a friend from england, known him for 7 years, I hope hes ok lighting a candle for him tonight

God Bless all those in the area

So sad!

I live in the north of England and the wind is upto 110 miles per hour and i live on the 5th floor of my block and we can feel the wind here. At one stage i thought my windows were going to come in.

Keeping you and everyone in my prayers!

that too bad ...

hichic ...

It was a heck of a ride over here aswell, water level got up more than 1.5 meters (around 5ft+) and we did lose electricity for a short period of time last night/today but that's all, we live on a small hill and on the 5th floor so only thing we really got to experience was the sound the wind made to our windows. I'm still a bit on the dark side as to what has happened around Finland since I managed to get back online just now

We got another storm warning for tonight.

Some pictures from yesterday:
http://www.postimees.ee/100105/online_uudised/154645.php
http://www.postimees.ee/100105/online_uudised/154639.php

Hard to find pictures online, propably should just scan todays paper....if I had one

Here's couple that I was able to find from Finland

Oh no Hurricane in European

I guess The Global Storm Is Coming!!!

Art bell is Right

Please take care of yourself.. everyone.

It's quite amazing how you can just laugh at everything ain't it

So you think it is funny

It was a nasty storm. I never lost power though but the lamps flashed a lot. It was quite scary, I was just waiting for something to come flying thru the windows.
It started to wind up earlier today but it seems that it calmed down a little bit.
I don't like it at all

Pia, MakeandSave, Mardikass -

Glad you guys are ok.

This weather is just horrible.

Just one awful mess after another.

Please be careful and take care of yourselves and your families.

Amen to that. Couldn't have said it better myself......... Cheri

Thank you RR and Cheri

All of my family and relatives are well, thank God

The problem with a forum such as this is that you "meet" so many people from all over the world, that you then worry and worry when something like these disasters happen. You sit and think of who you chat with who lives in those areas and just pray that they are ok. If they don't show up for an unusually long time you just pray that it is because their internet access is down. When they finally come online, you are so thankful.

It is easier when you don't "know" anyone from the areas. It's bad enough to look at the news reports and pictures of annonymous people, but when you see it and think, that could be Enchanted, or Pia, or LilPrincess, or whomever - it's a whole different story.

As the song goes, It's a Small World After All.......

It's a very small world here in chit-chat, especially. I worry and pray so much for all of my online friends. Take care, please, all of you - GOD BLESS - Cheri

Me, too. I'm always looking for the folks I know are European--hoping they checked in today.

Big mudslide in California on Tuesday.

Weird weather!

I'm glad everyone is ok.

My instructor is from England-he didn't even know about the storms.

Actually in my opnion that is a "good thing"
We become immune to horror on the news, when we "know" people in the area, it becomes more real, more personal. It makes differences in culture, religion and political smaller and the things people have in common larger, basically putting faces, or at least personalities, on tragedies.

And the weather in the US at the moment is also very bad, as the storms we have here in Cal. move east across the nation (if they EVER stop hanging just off the coast) more will be affected with flooding, landslides, power outages and avalanches. Fortunatly so far all we have had to personally deal with is the neighbors tree knocking out part of the fence and a water line to the critters.
Well that and 2 "snow days" with kids out of school pinging off the walls from boredom.