England paralyzed: 4 dead, 220 thousand homes without electricity

Such a storm has not been seen in a decade in Britain, winds which reached speeds of 190 kmph raged across England since the early morning hours (Monday). 220 thousand homes were left without electricity, hundreds of houses collapsed, trees and electric poles fell and blocked roads.

So far, four civilians were killed as a result of falling trees. In one case, a tree collapsed on a 50 year old man while he was driving his car in Watford - north of London, in another case a 17 year old girl died after being trapped under a fallen tree on her house during her sleep.

Heathrow airport cancelled takeoffs and landing of 130 flights - about 20% of the volume of daily traffic. British Ministry of Environmental Protection issued more than 140 warnings about flooding. While the airline British Airways announced that it is canceling its services today in Britain and Europe, except for long-term flights which will operate normally.

The British power company SSE has announced that thousands of homes were left without electricity across the South and Central England. London Transport Authority said that there will be no above-ground rail services during the morning, however, the subway has operated usually.

The storm also hit western France before spreading to Normandy province later this morning, according to the weather service in France, winds reached up to 80 kmph on the beach. Approximately 75 thousand homes were left without electricity in France according to AFP. Both in Belgium and the Netherlands forecast predicts strong winds coming speeds up to 87 kmph in the west coast of Holland.

Rabbi Chaim Moshe Friedman, who lives in Stamford Hill, says to Behadrey Haredim that the storm began at six in the morning, when the public was preparing to go to Shachris. "We came out safely from the storm without casualties. We had cases of collapse of trees, for example, at the doorway of the Satmar Beis Midrash on Clapton Street, but thank G-d no one was injured. The chimney of another Beis Midrash on Clapton Street collapsed inside, but even here by miracle no one was there. In addition, on one street a tree fell on a car parked underneath it."

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!