13 dead as Storm Eunice hits power, transport in Europe

UK: Emergency crews Saturday battled to restore power to more than one million homes and businesses after Storm Eunice carved a deadly trail across Europe and left transport networks in disarray.

At least 13 people were killed on Friday by falling trees, flying debris and high winds in Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Poland, emergency services said. In Brentwood, east of London, a 400-year-old tree crashed into a house and bedroom where 23-year-old Sven Good was working from home, as millions of other Britons heeded government advice to stay indoors.

Good said he heard a “creak and then a massive bang and the whole house just shuddered”.

The train network in the Netherlands was also paralysed, with no Eurostar and Thalys international services running from Britain and France after damage to overhead power lines. France was grappling too with rail disruption and about 37,000 households were without electricity, while some 8,000 remained cut off in Ireland and 4,500 in Germany, where rail operator Deutsche Bahn said “more than 1,000 kilometres” (620 miles) of track had suffered damage.

Poland still had one million customers cut off on Saturday afternoon, officials said, after the country’s northwest took a battering.

In the UK, 226,000 homes and businesses remained without power after 1.2 million others were reconnected.

The UK’s total bill for damage could exceed £300 million ($410 million, 360 million euros), according to the Association of British Insurers, based on repairs from previous storms. – THE HINDUSTAN TIMES