Death toll from hurricane-force storm rises to six

The death toll from hurricane-force Storm Xaver sweeping across northern Europe rose to six when high winds hurled a tree limb against a car, killing three people, local emergency services said.

Xaver blasted into northern Europe late last after disrupting transport and power in northern Britain and flooding east coast areas in what meteorologists said could prove the worst storm to hit the continent in years.

Two people were killed in Britain as winds reached speeds of 225 kilometers per hour.

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Emergency rescue service workers evacuate residents in an inflatable boat in flood water in a residential street in Rhyl, north Wales. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

A truck driver died when his vehicle overturned and a man was killed by a falling tree.

In western Denmark the 72-year-old female passenger of a truck died when the vehicle overturned in howling winds.

In Poland, three people died and one was injured in the town of Poraj when a tree limb was blown onto their car," Piotr Cholajda at the state firefighting headquarters said.

He said high winds had downed electricity lines, leaving more than 100,000 people around the eastern European country of 38 million without power.

The Polish Institute of Meteorology and Water Management forecast wind gusts today of up to 110 km/h inland and up to 135 km/h off Poland’s Baltic seacoast.

Poland’s flagship airline LOT cancelled some domestic and European flights on Friday due to “unexpected weather changes in Europe”.

Thousands of Britons evacuated from their homes on low-lying east coast areas yesterday were warned of further woes today in the form of “exceptionally high tides” - the most serious tidal surge for more than 60 years.

Sea levels are higher in some areas than during devastating floods of 1953 that killed hundreds along the North Sea coast.

Speaking after an emergency government meeting today, British Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said flood defences strengthened since 1953 had protected more than 800,000 homes.

Almost 8,000 people remained without power in Scotland where 80,000 people lost electricity yesterday, according to energy company SSE.

In Germany, about 4,000 people in the northern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern had no power today, schools were closed and about 70 flights at Hamburg airport were cancelled.

Officials said floodwaters in the northern German port city of Hamburg rose to 6.09 meters above normal levels early today, the highest level in decades. All 38 flood-gates in Hamburg were closed earlier.

A high-speed rail line running 300 km between Germany’s two largest cities Hamburg and Berlin was blocked today by debris on the tracks. Stranded passengers were transferred to buses, according to Deutsche Bahn officials.

Reuters