VIOLENT STORMS swept across France over the weekend, leaving at least 45 people dead and causing widespread damage to buildings and power lines.
Prime minister François Fillon spoke of a “national catastrophe” when the extent of damage wrought by the storm became clear yesterday. “Now the priority is to bring all the people left homeless and still threatened by the rising waters to safety,” Mr Fillon said.
The storm, named Xynthia, was the worst in France since 1999, when 90 people died. Many of the victims drowned, while others died when hit by parts of buildings or trees that were ripped off by high winds.
A further three people died in Spain, one was killed in Germany and a child was crushed to death in Portugal.
The storm also hit Belgium, with one death reported there.
Nearly a million people in France were without electricity. Rivers overflowed their banks in Brittany, while high tides and enormous waves caused damage in coastal areas.
The threat of avalanches was high in the Pyrenees and the southern Alps due to wind and wet snow, while flights were delayed and at least 100 were cancelled at the two main Paris airports.
As the storm moved eastward yesterday, parts of France along the border with Germany and Belgium were on alert for heavy rain and high winds.
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.
Unusually strong winds also uprooted trees in many parts of Portugal. A girl of 10 died when she was hit by a falling tree.