Europe clears up after deadliest storm in 8 years

BERLIN, Saturday (AP) - Europeans cleared up today after the deadliest storm to hit the continent in eight years killed at least 47 people, caused transport havoc and tore down power lines. Workers hauled away fallen trees and repaired electricity supplies, while trains started moving again after a near-total shutdown in parts of the continent during Thursday night's storm.

The disruption hit countries from Britain to Ukraine, where the flow of Russian oil through a key pipeline to Europe was temporarily halted after power to a pumping station was knocked out. Hurricane-force winds and driving rain left 14 people dead in Britain, 12 in Germany, six each in the Netherlands and Poland, four in the Czech Republic, three in France and two in Belgium.

It was the highest death toll from a European storm since 1999, when gales downed trees and driving snow brought on avalanches, killing more than 120 people. Germany's GDV insurance association estimated insured losses at euro1 billion (US$1.3 billion) in that country alone.

Climate researchers cautioned that, while no single storm could be linked to rising temperatures, global warming could result in more such tempestuous weather. Stormy weather had been predicted this year for parts of Europe, with researchers saying unusually high temperatures in the North Atlantic would allow winds to accumulate more moisture and surge in energy.

David Viner, a senior scientist at the Climatic Research Unit at Britain's University of East Anglia, cautioned that ''a mid-Atlantic depression like we had yesterday, we can't say exactly that global warming has anything to do with it.'' However, ''the bottom line is that global warming will result in more intense storms in the long run,'' he said.

''If we don't get climate change under control, winter's just going to get worse,'' said Joern Ehlers, spokesman for the World Wide Fund For Nature. Most of the people killed in the storm were motorists.

However, the victims also included two German firefighters; an 18-month-old child in Munich hit by a terrace door ripped from its hinges; a toddler killed in London when a brick wall collapsed on him; and a Polish crane operator killed when his crane broke in half.
Travel by air, land or sea that had practically ground to a halt due to the storm was slowly restored Friday. Airports from London to Frankfurt reported some delays and cancellations, but were returning to normal.

Railway services in Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and elsewhere were also slowly restored, as workers cleared trees and debris from the tracks and repaired overhead electrical wires. The Eurostar service between Britain and continental Europe was restored in full.

The head of Germany's national railroad, Deutsche Bahn, said the company would start assessing the cost of the damage after an unprecedented near-total shutdown. After thousands of travelers were stranded, Hartmut Mehdorn said that ''we can't compensate everyone.''

London's London Bridge station reopened after being closed when part of a roof collapsed. Two heavy steel girders spectacularly came loose Thursday night from a glass facade at Berlin's new main station, one of them plunging onto an outdoor staircase, but no one was injured. The station remained shut until Friday afternoon.

''I can see maybe the glass falling, but not the steel,'' said 38-year-old electrician Thomas Mueller, who had stopped to survey the damage. ''They just built this thing eight months ago.'' Scaffolding blew off the cathedral in Saint-Omer, France, damaging the facade and breaking a window as it fell. In Fourmies, also in northern France, the roof of a private school crashed into a parking lot.
''When it happened, everyone was in the buildings _ fortunately no one was in the cars ... otherwise there would have been deaths,'' the Saint-Pierre school's director, Regis Coustenoble, told France Info radio.

Off the coast of France, a coast guard tug was called to tow a damaged British container ship containing explosive materials to safety, a day after its crew of 26 was rescued from stormy seas.