Storm Sabine/Ciara pummels UK, starts hitting Germany

The UK on Monday morning was assessing the damage caused by winter storm Ciara — also called Sabine — that blew through late Sunday and overnight, as Germany and other parts of Europe await a similar fate. 

Hurricane-force winds and heavy rains grounded flights, cancelled trains, and shut down operations at major ports across western Europe on Sunday. The UK’s Meteorogical Office issued more than 250 flood warnings and at least 10 British rail companies issued “do not travel” warnings. Other British rail lines told passengers to expect delays. 

Storm surges in coastal cities pounded beaches and docks. The English port of Dover and France’s port of Calais on either side of the English Channel shut down ferry operations for several hours amid choppy conditions.

The UK was battered by Ciara/Sabine

The impressive winds enabled a British Airways plane to make the fastest New York-to-London flight by a conventional airliner, completing the 3,500-mile (5,630-kilometer) journey in just under five hours, 102 minutes ahead of schedule. A total of three commercial flights were able to easily beat the previously held subsonic record of 5 hours and 13 minutes.

Next target: Germany

While weather experts said the UK had seen the worst of the storm by Sunday evening, other parts of Europe on Monday were still bracing for it to strike or intensify.

The storm  — called Sabine in Germany — was largely over in northern Germany as of Monday morning, but weather authorities said it was still coming for the south.

Gusts measuring more than 170 kilometers (106 miles) per hour were reported in the Black Forest in southern Germany Monday morning. German weather officials said the storm would carry on for several hours, with the heaviest rains and strongest winds expected in the south.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled and all long-distance train travel was put on hold until appropriate weather conditions could be confirmed. 

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  Storm Sabine wreaks havoc across northern Europe

  Battering winds

  Storm Sabine, or Ciara as it’s called outside of Germany, brought down trees and powerlines as it lashed parts of northern Europe. More than 30,000 homes in Britain, and some 10,000 in Ireland, were without electricity.

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  Storm Sabine wreaks havoc across northern Europe

  Flood warnings

  Heavy rain pounded much of the UK, prompting the Met Office to issue 190 emergency flood warnings. Waters rose rapidly in Mytholmroyd (pictured) in England’s north, after the River Calder burst its banks.

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  Storm Sabine wreaks havoc across northern Europe

  Massive gusts

  The howling winds also caused traffic chaos, with scores of flights and train services canceled across the continent. The UK Met Office said the highest wind speed recorded was 150 kilometers (93 miles) per hour at the northern Welsh village of Aberdaron.

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  Storm Sabine wreaks havoc across northern Europe

  Sabine on mainland Europe

  The storm also battered the city of Wimeureux and other parts of northern France, where parks, cemeteries and outdoor markets were closed. The bad weather is also affecting Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark and Germany. Sabine was expected to crash into southern Norway and Sweden later on Sunday.

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  Storm Sabine wreaks havoc across northern Europe

  Storm surge

  Sabine arrived on Germany’s northwest on Sunday morning, hitting the coastal towns of Emden and Kiel, and the North Sea island, Sylt. Ferry services in the region were canceled, while the ports of Dover in England and Calais in France were shut down completely because of the dangerous swell.

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  Storm Sabine wreaks havoc across northern Europe

  Passengers stranded

  Düsseldorf and Frankfurt airports in western Germany canceled scores of flights on Sunday as Sabine began moving south towards the state of Bavaria. Flights were also affected in the cities of Hamburg, Berlin, Hannover, Dortmund, Cologne and Stuttgart. Similar disruptions were reported at London’s Heathrow Airport, Brussels Airport and Amsterdam’s Schiphol.

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  Storm Sabine wreaks havoc across northern Europe

  Atop the Brocken

  Wind speeds on northern Germany’s highest peak, the Brocken, reached 156 km/h on Sunday evening, according to the German weather service. Forecasts warned there could be gusts as strong as 180 km/h there overnight.

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  Storm Sabine wreaks havoc across northern Europe

  Sports events, school canceled

  Authorities warned millions of people in the affected countries to stay indoors. Dozens of events were called off as a result of the weather, including the Premier League football match between Manchester City and West Ham, and a German soccer league game between Borussia Mönchengladbach and Cologne. Luxembourg and Cologne have said all school children should stay home on Monday.

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  Storm Sabine wreaks havoc across northern Europe

  Injuries reported

  Winds have knocked over trees and other heavy objects, causing damage to vehicles and disrupting traffic. Several injuries were reported, including one woman in critical condition in Germany after a tree fell on her vehicle.

Multiple injuries due to downed trees have been reported since Sunday. Two women in in the city of Saarbrücken in western Germany were in the hospital after a tree fell on their car. One remains in critical condition. A 16-year-old in North Rhine-Westphalia also sustained head injuries from a falling tree.

Overnight winds in Frankfurt blew a crane into the roof of the city’s cathedral, where it became stuck.

Germany issued its second-highest storm warning level for the entire southern half of the country. In parts of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, the highest level 4 warning has been issued.

kp/ng (AP, dpa, epd)

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Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/storm-sabine-ciara-pummels-uk-starts-hitting-germany/a-52319505?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf