Kindgo
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07-17-03
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/articl...-747963,00.html World News
July 17, 2003
Heatwaves and storms wreak havoc in Europe
By Gabriel Rozenberg
EXTREMES of weather have left some parts of Europe gasping in a heatwave while others mop up after freak storms.
Five people, including two tourists, were killed in France as thunderstorms lashed the south and west of the country. A 40-year-old Dutchman and a German girl, aged 11, died when they were hit by falling trees at a campsite at Biscarrosse, on the southern Atlantic coast, on Tuesday night. A two-year-old girl died in hospital last night. She had fallen into a coma after being struck by a falling tree.
In the nearby region of Pyrénées- Atlantiques, a 17-year-old youth was killed when he lost control of his scooter in a ferocious hail storm and hit an oncoming vehicle. His 14-year-old passenger was in a serious condition in hospital.
Further north, at a campsite near Saumur, in Maine-et-Loire, a man died of a heart attack brought on by the storms. Several other people were injured by falling trees at the campsite and seven people were hurt when a barn was blown down.
According to the emergency services, 70 people were injured, nine of them seriously. Up to 300,000 homes were without electricity.
Three children died in violent storms in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday night. The authorities said that rushing waters from heavy rain swept two boys, aged 2 and 4, into a ravine, and a 13-year-old boy was struck by lightning. Storms also damaged electricity lines.
A spokeswoman for the Met Office said: “We are seeing a thundery area of low pressure. It often happens in the summer that we get these torrential downfalls, but the winds have been very unusual.”
She said that on Tuesday night gusts of wind in the Bordeaux region had reached 99mph. “It’s like a tornado ripping through you. It’s really quite horrendous,” she said, adding that 53mm (2in) of rain fell in two hours — more than the average for the whole month.
The storms in France brought an end to a heatwave that had seen temperatures reach 40C (104F) and led to concerns about crop failure and forest fires.
Elsewhere in mainland Europe, many countries enjoyed some of the hottest July days in memory as the heat turned fountains in Paris and Rome into impromptu public showers.
The temperature in Pori, Finland, reached 31C, well above the average maximum for July of 21C, and the authorities were standing guard against possible forest fires. Further north, in Lapland, reindeer are struggling in the heat. “They are really longing for the winter now,” Veijo Tervonen, of the Finnish Reindeer Herders’ Association, said.
At the Santa Claus Village theme park, which claims to be the official home of Father Christmas, a staff member said that Santa was working full-time, as usual, welcoming some 2,000 visitors a day. “With the heat inside the office reaching 32C it’s tough for him,” the spokesman said. “He is wearing shorts.”
In some parts of Belgium, temperatures reached 36C, against an average maximum for July of 22C. The German city of Düsseldorf experienced similar temperatures.
The heatwave caused water levels on the Rhine to drop sharply and led to traffic restrictions on one of the world’s busiest inland waterways. A spokesman said the level was falling by between 2cm and 3cm a day.
Italy’s longest river, the Po, which flows across much of the northern agricultural belt, has fallen to its lowest levels in a century. Authorities in Romania have been digging deeper channels in the Danube to prevent ships from grounding.
In Switzerland, which is having its hottest July since records began, glaciers have melted, causing chunks of rock to break off. Authorities closed the Matterhorn for a second day amid fears that the heat could cause rockslides. Miggi Biner, president of the mountaineering society in Zermatt, said: “At the moment we are advising against climbing on the Matterhorn. It would be pure suicide.”
Work is under way to make a rock face that crumbled in the soaring temperatures secure, but it is expected to be at least three days before climbing can restart.
More than 20 small forest fires have broken out in Graubuenden and the Swiss canton is considering a ban on traditional bonfires on August 1, the country’s national day.
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
Posts: 4320 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Jun 2002
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