Von: joel carlinsky
Datum: 02/17/05 03:12:03
1990: Children killed in devastating storm. At least 39 people, some of
them children, have died in the worst weather to
hit England and Wales since the 1987 storm. Hurricane-force winds gusting
in from the south-west brought chaos with many
railway stations, roads and ports forced to close and some flights to major
airports in England were diverted.
The severe weather also affected other parts of Europe, killing at least
21 people in France, the Netherlands and Belgium, and caused disruption
and damage in West Germany.
The number of people killed in Britain is believed to be higher than that
in 1987 because the storm struck during the day.
But fewer trees were damaged this time - in October 1987, 15 million were
blown down because many still had their leaves.
Falling trees
The storm reached the south-west of England just before dawn and by 0800
police in the West Country, the Bristol area and Hampshire were inundated
with calls.
Police described the situation as "chaotic", with cars and overturned
lorries blocking motorways, buildings collapsing and power and telecommunications
lines being blown down. At least half a million homes are without electricity.
An 11-year-old girl was killed and two others seriously injured by debris
from a falling roof in Swindon. A block of stone fell onto a dinner hall
at a school in Bristol killing one girl and injuring five others.
A 15-year-old girl was killed by a falling tree near her school in Ware,
Hertfordshire.
At Newhaven in Sussex children were evacuated from a three-storey building
as cracks appeared in the walls.
At Pounds Hill in Sussex a teacher led her class to safety just minutes
before the building toppled over.
In Cardiff a 28-year-old woman was killed in her car when a tree fell on
it - her two-month-old baby survived.
Two men restoring Uppark House in Sussex die when scaffolding collapsed.
Grants for worst-hit areas
A police Chief Inspector, John Smith, was killed when a tree fell on his
car in Winchester.
Among the hundreds of people injured by falling trees and masonry was Gordon
Kaye, star of the BBC's 'Allo 'Allo sitcom.
He is critically ill in hospital after a plank for an advertising board
was blown through is car windscreen in west London.
At the height of the storm, ambulance staff abandoned their current strike
to respond to emergency calls but were back on the picket line once the
winds had died down.
An emergency meeting of senior ministers, chaired by Home Secretary David
Waddington, is reviewing the effect of storm and the government has announced
special funds will be granted to councils in worst-affected parts of the
country.
Insurance companies estimate there has been at least £750m worth
of damage. In 1987 they paid out some £1.2bn in claims.
Weather forecasters, still reeling from the surprise hurricane of 1987,
insist they have been predicting today's severe weather for some days.
Climatologists say the storms of recent years are caused by the Greenhouse
effect as the war air from the tropics hits the cold air from the poles
and causes depressions that sweep across the Atlantic.