Storms swept through western Europe over the weekend, killing at least 15 people in France, three in Spain and one in Portugal, officials said. Local authorities in France warned the toll could rise after three people died Saturday and another 12 Sunday. Some drowned while others were hit by falling trees and branches. Two people were killed near the northern Spanish city of Burgos when their car hit a fallen tree and a woman died when a wall fell on her in northwestern Spain. Unusually strong winds also uprooted trees in many parts of Portugal. A girl of 10 died when she was hit by a falling tree. Heavy rain lashed many parts of the country and several rivers rose sharply, with flood warnings Sunday for low-lying parts of second city Porto along the Douro River estuary. In France, coastal regions Vendee and Charente Maritime bore the brunt of the storm. More than one million residents suffered power cuts, said ErDF, the distribution arm of French energy group EDF, with Brittany and central France worst affected. Some areas of Spain also lost electricity but Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba told a news conference it was being restored. Weather forecasters said the storm, named Xynthia, had moved to France's north-east and Belgium and would hit Denmark next. The Belgian meteorological institute forecast wind speeds of up to 120 km (75 miles) per hour from noon Sunday, easing later in the day as the storm moved to Denmark. Gusts of wind reaching 100 km (60 miles) per hour had battered France's northern regions by 1207 GMT, Meteo France said, adding that the storms seemed less fierce than those that hit France in Dec. 1999 in which 92 people were killed. Further north, much of England and Wales was on flood alert on Sunday, with further prolonged heavy rain and strong winds expected after torrential downpours overnight.
