EU:Europeans spent the day clearing up yesterday after the deadliest storm to hit the Continent in eight years killed at least 47 people, caused transport havoc and tore down power lines.
Workers hauled away fallen trees and repaired electricity supplies, while trains started moving again after a near-total shutdown in parts of the Continent during Thursday night's storm.
The disruption hit countries from Britain to Ukraine, where the flow of Russian oil through a key pipeline to Europe was temporarily halted after power to a pumping station was knocked out.
Hurricane-force winds and driving rain left 14 people dead in Britain, 12 in Germany, six each in The Netherlands and Poland, four in the Czech Republic, three in France and two in Belgium.
It was the highest death toll from a European storm since 1999, when gales felled trees and driving snow brought on avalanches, killing more than 120 people.
Climate researchers cautioned that, while no single storm could be linked to rising temperatures, global warming could result in more such tempestuous weather.
Most of the people killed in the storm were motorists. However, the victims also included two German firefighters; an 18-month- old child in Munich hit by a door ripped from its hinges; a toddler killed in London when a brick wall collapsed on him; and a Polish crane operator killed when his crane broke in half.
Travel by air, land or sea that had practically ground to a halt due to the storm was slowly restored yesterday. Airports from London to Frankfurt reported some delays and cancellations, but were returning to normal.
Railway services in Britain, Germany, The Netherlands and elsewhere were also slowly restored, as workers cleared trees and debris from the tracks and repaired overhead electrical cables.
The head of Germany's national railway, Deutsche Bahn, said it would start assessing the cost of the damage after an unprecedented near-total shutdown.
On Thursday, two heavy steel girders spectacularly came loose from a glass facade at Berlin's new main station, one of them plunging on to an outdoor staircase, but no one was injured. The station remained shut until yesterday afternoon.
Scaffolding blew off the cathedral in Saint-Omer, France, damaging the facade. Off the coast of France, a coast guard tug was called to tow a damaged British container ship containing explosive materials to safety, a day after its crew of 26 was rescued from stormy seas.