World

Floods, Winds, Claim More Lives

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

November 2, 2000 / 1:57 PM EST / CBS

The severe weather that has pounded Western Europe for the past week has now claimed at least 19 lives.

Heavy rain and high winds are the problem in England, Ireland, France and Italy, with less severe conditions reported in Spain and Switzerland, and things are expected to get worse in many areas.

In Britain, where the death toll stands at 12, there were new evacuations Tuesday, as fears mounted that the River Aire in North Yorkshire might burst its banks, flooding the northern villages of Beal and Birkin. There is already widespread flooding in York and Guildford, also in the north.

Britain's Environment Agency says 52 severe flood warnings have been issued for 33 rivers, with some 250 lesser warnings also in effect and more rain on the way.

Police and emergency teams across the country also returned to the banks of three rivers which overflowed Monday afternoon: the River Uck at Uckfield, about 30 miles south of London; the River Meon into two Hampshire villages Exton and West Meon; and the River Medway into the village of Yalding, about 40 miles southeast of London.

The floods and high winds have also been a problem in Ireland, where a woman in County Kilkenny died when she was hit by a gate during a windstorm on her farm. Wind also tore down numerous power lines and trees, disrupting train service between Dublin and Belfast.

In France, the death toll stands at three, with fatalities in mudslides in Nice on the Cote d'Azur and in Gap, both in the southeast. In a third incident, in Soorts-Hossegor, in the southwest, a woman was killed when a tree fell on her car.

AP Photo
The flooded Severn River
Valley, in Deerhurst,
England.

The severe weather has caused serious problems throughout the south of France, where many schools and homes have been evacuated, numerous roads are closed, and severe disruptions of both railroad and air transportation.

In Italy, floods and landslides in the northern part of the country have forced evacuations and claimed three lives, including an elderly man who drowned in his home in Liguria, near Genoa. The floods come just weeks after devastating floods which hit the northern Italian regions of Piedmont, Lombardy and Val D'Aosta.

No fatalities were reported in Switzerland despite winds that reached enormous velocities. The winds damaged buildings and knocked over electrical pylons and trees, while heavy snow halted traffic through the Swiss Alps, officials said.

In the southern Swiss state of Valais, the wind made so much noise that earthquake-measuring equipment falsely indicated that there had been a tremor of magnitude 3.7.

In Spain, gusty winds and heavy rain cut off roads, forced the cancellation of numerous flights, and kept fishing fleets n Galicia and elsewhere in Spain remained in port because of rough seas.

At least four ships so far have had to be rescued: a British yacht in the Bay of Biscay, near the French-Spanish border; a Spanish fishing vessel off the southwest coast of Ireland; an Italian fishing boat in the Adriatic Sea near Vasto; and a rudderless ship packed with some 1,000 illegal immigrants, drifting in dangerous, rocky waters near Otranto, Italy.