Extreme weather kills 13 in Europe: Tell Me it was Caused by AGW

Extreme weather kills 13 in Europe

Berlin (AFP) March 2, 2008
Hurricane-strength winds howled across Europe over the weekend,
killing 13 people and leaving a trail of destruction as cars were
blown off the road, roofs were ripped off and trees fell like
matchsticks.

The storm, dubbed "Emma" by forecasters, brought with it winds of up
to 200 kilometres (125 miles) an hour and heavy rains as it ripped its
way across central Europe.

As the winds eased slightly on Sunday Germany reported five people
dead, Austria four, the Czech Republic two and Poland two.

In Rhineland-Palatinate in western Germany a driver was crushed when a
tree fell on his car, while a 72-year-old man in Bavaria perished when
a gust of wind pushed his car into the path of an oncoming lorry,
police said.

In Baden-Wuerttemberg a 19-year-old man was killed in another head-on
collision caused by the wind, while in Saxony a 48-year-old woman died
and four people were injured in a car crash caused by snow and strong
winds.

In Saxony-Anhalt in eastern Germany a 48-year-old man died when winds
made him lose control of his minivan on the motorway.

Six people were hurt when their bus was blown off the road and into a
ditch in Bavaria, while rail passengers had a lucky escape near Bonn
when their train hit a tree that had fallen on the line, ripping a
large hole in the locomotive.

Across Germany, roads and railway lines were closed, roofs were ripped
off houses, cars were overturned and power lines put out of action.

Authorities said tens of millions of euros (dollars) worth of damage
has been caused.

The southern state of Bavaria was particularly badly hit, with 150,000
homes without electricity and heavy rain causing flooding, police
said.

In Austria, where winds reached up to 166 kilometres per hour, two
German tourists were killed on Saturday in separate incidents in the
western province of Tyrol.

In the central Salzburg province, a taxi passenger was killed by
rockfall apparently caused by the storm and a woman was crushed in
Lower Austria when a tree squashed her car.

Some 10,000 homes in Upper Austria were without power, roads and
sections of motorway had to be shut down and rail services around the
country were severely disrupted.

Two people were also killed in the Czech Republic, emergency services
said.

An 11-year-old girl died from her injuries after a tree fell on her in
Libeznice, near Prague, while an 80-year-old man perished when a metal
roof fell on top of him near Nymburk, in the east of the country.

About 40 people had to be evacuated from a block of flats in Prague
after its roof was ripped off, and 100,000 people were without
electricity in the western Karlovarsky region. Train services were
disrupted across the country.

In Poland there were two fatalities including a 42-year-old killed
when a tree blew over and flattened his car.

A 28-year-old man was also killed when a piece of metal blown off the
lorry he was travelling behind hit his car 120 kilometres north of
Warsaw.

Polish rescue services attended to 2,500 emergency calls overnight and
on Sunday morning. Thousands of homes were left without power.

In the Netherlands, flights to and from Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport
suffered severe delays as only one runway could be used for take-offs
and landings.

The government also warned of potential flooding, while in Romania,
flooding caused a bridge to collapse and four ports on the Black Sea
were closed.
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