Storms Elsa and Fabien leave nine people dead across Europe
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Version 0 of 1. More than 110,000 without electricity as rail and air travel disrupted across the region The death toll from storms that have battered Spain, Portugal and France rose to nine on Sunday as the region braced for more violent winds and heavy rain. Storms Elsa and Fabien have flooded rivers, brought down power lines, uprooted trees and disrupted rail and air travel across the region, leaving more than 118,000 households without electricity. Two people have died in Portugal and seven have been killed in Spain, the worst affected country, after a fisherman was swept off rocks into the sea in Catalonia. The local government said three police officers and another fisherman had to be rescued after they tried to save the man in the resort town of Sant Feliu de Guíxols, 70 miles (100km) north-east of Barcelona. The deaths in Spain include a South Korean woman killed by debris falling from a building in Madrid and a Dutch man who drowned windsurfing in rough weather off the Andalusian coast. As a weakened Storm Elsa moved over Britain on Saturday, Storm Fabien quickly moved in, bringing winds of 170km/h to Galicia in north-western Spain, forcing the cancellation of 14 flights. Eight thousand households in Galicia were without power due to damage caused to power lines by the wind, local officials said. Eight Madrid city parks were shut on Saturday because of the strong winds. However, Spanish officials said on Sunday that Fabien was moving away quickly. Parks and cemeteries were also closed in Bordeaux, in south-western France, while the Arlette Gruss circus, which had set up in a big tent in the city’s main square, cancelled three performances. France’s weather office placed 15 regions in the south-west of the country on orange alert on Saturday, as the storm battered its Atlantic coast. The winds were as fast as 148km/h at Socoa, in the south-west, near the border with Spain. On the north-west coast of Brittany winds reached up to 120km/h. The region was still being buffeted by gusts of up to 90km/h on Sunday. Across south-western France, violent winds left 110,000 households without electricity, officials said on Sunday. France’s SNCF rail network cancelled services between Bordeaux, Toulouse and Hendaye in the south-west because of the likelihood of winds blowing trees on to the line. Officials on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica closed all the island’s airports because of the approaching storm. Ferry services to the mainland were also suspended. |