London: An Atlantic Storm has hit Northwestern Europe, with high winds on Friday, and has led to the death of at least nine people. The region is facing a power-cut, trees have been uprooted amid high winds, the train services have been canceled.
Storm Eunice is the second major storm that has hit western England and made landfall in Cornwall on Friday where waves lashed the coast, sending plumes of spray dozens of meters into the air.
The UK weather service has stated a gust provisionally measured at 122 mph (196 kph), thought to be the strongest ever in England, was recorded on the Isle of Wight as Storm Eunice swept across the country’s south.
The storm is also hitting the other Northern European countries, including Belgium, Ireland, and the Netherlands.
In Britain at least three citizens have died. A man in southern England was killed when a car hit a tree, another man whose windshield was struck by debris in northwest England, and a woman in her 30s who died in London when a tree fell on a car, police said.
Three people were killed in the Netherlands, by falling trees in and around Amsterdam, and a fourth died in the northern province of Groningen after driving his car into a fallen tree.
In the town of Tournai, high winds led to a crane crashing onto the roof of a hospital. There were no immediate reports of any deaths, though local media said there had been injuries, without giving any details.
A 79-Year-Old British Man died after falling from his boat at a marina on a waterway in the northern town of Ypres amid strong winds, media reported.
Eunice is the second storm hitting the region this week, with the first storm killing at least five people in Germany and Poland. Peter Inness, a meteorologist at the University of Reading in England, attributed the storms to an unusually strong jet stream over the eastern Atlantic Ocean, with winds close to 200 mph (321 kph) at high altitudes.
Even before Britain was hit by the full force of the storm, Eunice disrupted travel across southern England and Wales, with many train services interrupted and numerous flights and ferry services canceled.
The situation is so worse that planes were buffeted so strongly by gusts at some British airports that pilots were forced to abandon landings.
In London, high winds ripped sections of roofing from the 02 Arena, a landmark on the south bank of the River Thames that was originally known as the Millennium Dome. Firefighters evacuated 1,000 people from the area.
Storm Eunice caused heightened concern because it had the potential to produce a “sting jet,” a small area of intense winds that may exceed 100 mph.
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