Xynthia Batters Continent

Heavy Storm Kills At Least 54 in Western Europe

An brutal Atlantic storm wrought devastation across Western Europe over the weekend and into Monday, killing at least 54 people. Most of the casualties were in France, where coastal towns were flooded and battered by gusts of winds of up to 166 kilometers per hour.

At least 54 people died in a violent storm that left a trail of destruction across Western Europe on Sunday. Some 45 people were killed on the Atlantic coast of France, the French Interior Ministry said after a crisis meeting. Most of them drowned in heavy flooding.

DPA

Firefighters evacuating residents in L'Aguillon sur Mer, France, on Sunday.

The storm, named Xynthia, hit the western coasts of France, Portugal and Spain on Sunday with torrential rain and winds of up to 166 kilometers per hour (103 miles per hour). It then moved into Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

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Photo Gallery: Deadly Storm Batters Western Europe

Towns along the Atlantic coast were buffeted by huge waves and strong gusts that cut off electricity to more than 1 million households in France, officials said. The storm blew down trees and tore the roofs off houses, caused short-circuits on overland power lines and in switching stations.

On Monday morning, half a million households were still without power and it will take until Wednesday for the power to be fully restored.

"It's a national disaster," said French Prime Minister Francois Fillion. He said coastal flood defenses would be strengthened as a result of the disaster.

In the port of La Rochelle, the center was flooded and yachts were washed onto the quays. In the town of L'Aiguillon sur Mer on the Atlantic coast, the floods surprised residents in their sleep. "I heard a rushing of water," said an 82-year-old woman. "And as I swung my legs out of the bed I got wet feet -- up to my ankles." She was rescued by helicopter. Others climbed into their attics, knocked holes in their roofs and waited for help.

Perfect Storm

Meteorologists said the disaster was caused by the concurrence of a lower pressure front with unusually strong winds that moved up from Spain through the Bay of Biscay, an exceptionally high tide and heavy rains. Despite the damage, the French meteorological office said the storm appeared less fierce than the one that hit France in December 1999, in which 92 people were killed.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was due to visit the worst-hit regions on Monday. Meanwhile the country is bracing for another high tide on Monday afternoon, but the winds are much less powerful than they were on Saturday and Sunday.

Air France said 100 of its flights had been cancelled from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.

At least five people were killed in northwestern Germany, and all train services in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, were stopped on Sunday. Local train services were also stopped in other German states.

A two-year-old boy in the town of Biblis in the western state of Hesse was blown into a river and drowned. Train and air traffic in Germany was gradually returning to normal on Monday. On Sunday, the storm had led to the cancellation of more than 250 flights at Frankfurt airport.

The European Union said it would release funds to help with reconstruction.

cro -- with wires and reporting by Stefan Simons