A solar panel ripped loose by the winter storm killed a man in Belgium. The Belgian news agency Belga reported on Saturday, citing the public prosecutor’s office in East Flanders, that he got the component blown from a house roof on his head on Friday. He died in a hospital from severe injuries. Another Belgian victim of the storm is a 79-year-old. He died on Friday after falling off a boat at a marina in Ypres, West Flanders.
The storm that originated in Ireland moved across parts of the United Kingdom on Friday, then across northern France and the Benelux countries before hitting Denmark, Germany and later Poland on Saturday night. Record wind speeds – close to 200km/h in Britain – and heavy rain uprooted trees, damaged roofs and caused flash floods. In northern Germany, the highest alert level was on Saturday.
Numerous train connections were canceled in the affected countries, such as the Thalys between Amsterdam and Brussels and large parts of the long-distance traffic of Deutsche Bahn. Numerous flights were canceled at the major London airports in particular. The ferry service across the English Channel was also severely affected.
In Great Britain, more than 400,000 households were still without electricity on Saturday, the network operator said. According to local authorities, 194,000 households were affected in Poland and 37,000 in France. The British insurers estimate the damage caused there at more than 300 million pounds (360 million euros).
So far, most of the dead were in the Netherlands, where four people died. Three people died in Britain and Germany, two in Poland, two people in Belgium and one in Ireland.
Source: Nachrichten
