Fierce rain and winds batter Europe; at least 50 people killed, mostly in France

Fierce storms in Europe kill 50, mostly in France

PARIS — A violent late winter storm with fierce rain and hurricane-strength winds ripped across western Europe on Sunday, battering France and four other countries, leaving at least 50 people dead.

The storm, named Xynthia, was the worst in France since 1999 when 90 people died.

Many of the 45 victims in France drowned, while others died when hit by parts of buildings or trees and branches that were ripped off by the wind. At least a dozen people were missing Sunday and 59 others were injured.

Three people died in Spain, one was killed in Germany and a child was crushed to death in Portugal. The storm also hit Belgium, but no deaths were reported there.

Nearly 900,000 people in France were without electricity. Rivers overflowed their banks in Brittany, while high tides and pounding waves swamped Atlantic Ocean communities. The threat of avalanches was high in the Pyrenees Mountains and the southern Alps due to wind and wet snow.

In Paris, winds knocked over motorcycles and spewed garbage around the streets of the capital. Flights were delayed and at least 100 were canceled at the two main Paris airports. A number of trains throughout France were delayed because of flooded tracks.

Winds reached about 130 mph (200 kph) on the summits of the Pyrenees and up to nearly 100 mph (160 kph) along the Atlantic Coast. The storm hit the Vendee and Charente-Maritime regions in southwestern France hardest, flooding coastal islands and tossing boats around in ports.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux planned to visit the worst hit regions Monday.

The storm was moving eastward and parts of France along the border with Germany and Belgium were on alert for heavy rain and high winds.

Officials say scores of flights and trains have been canceled or delayed in southwestern Germany. One person was killed in the Black Forest area when winds brought a tree down onto his car in the Sunday afternoon storm.

Fallen trees also closed many stretches of train tracks in the states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saarland.

High winds caused the cancellation of 119 flights from Frankfurt airport while scores of others were delayed or diverted.

Xynthia hit Belgium in mid-afternoon but did not cause heavy damage or any fatalities. Fire services said they had received dozens of calls about fallen trees blocking roads and bringing down electricity pylons.

In Spain, the interior minister said three people were killed by hurricane-strength winds and heavy rainfall that lashed the country’s northern regions over the weekend. Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said the storm had been intense in certain regions and had caused the deaths of a woman in northwestern Ourense and of two people whose car was hit by a falling tree in Arlanzon just north of Madrid.

The national weather agency had warned that a violent cyclone depression had formed over the Atlantic Ocean and was to cross areas bordering the Bay of Biscay.

Winds gusting up to 118 mph (190 kph) had blown over the Canary Islands overnight Friday causing a crane to collapse on a building, lampposts to fall onto parked cars and forcing flight cancellations.

Portugal’s home affairs minister Rui Pereira said a child had been killed Saturday by a falling tree in Paredes. The 10-year-old had been playing ball near a church while waiting to go to a prayer meeting when a branch crushed him, Pereira said.

AP correspondent Harold Heckle in Madrid contributed to this report.