Record Winds Rip Through Western Europe

Record-breaking winds in France and across much of Western Europe left at least seven people dead and injured others as Storm Ciarán swept through the continent Thursday. The storm devastated homes, causing travel mayhem, and cut power to a vast number of people. Winds of more than 118 mph slammed the northern tip of France's Atlantic coast overnight, uprooting trees and blowing out windows. Huge waves slammed into French ports and shorelines, as wind flattened street signs and ripped off roofing. Felled trees blocked roads around western France, according to AP reporters and images on French media and social networks.

A truck driver was killed when his vehicle was hit by a tree in northern France, Transport Minister Clement Beaune said. A 70-year-old man in the port city of Le Havre, Normandy, died in a fall from his balcony. Local media outlet FranceBleu quoted a prosecutor as saying it appeared the victim was trying to close his shutters as a gust of wind hit. Another person was badly injured in the northern city of Roubaix, and 15 other people were hurt around western and northern France, authorities announced. Seven of the injured were emergency workers. About 1.2 million French households were left without electricity on Thursday, a utility said. The wind reached nearly 100 mph on the Normandy coast and around 90 mph inland. Local authorities closed forests, parks, and beachfronts in some regions, per the AP.

Local trains were canceled in western France, and all roads in the Finistère region of Brittany were closed. In Spain, where the storm battered much of the country with heavy rains and gale-force winds, a woman died Thursday after a tree fell on her. Parks in the capital and other cities in Spain were closed, and trains and flights were canceled. A storm warning was issued for the North Sea coast in Germany, and a warning of high winds for part of the Baltic Sea coast. Thousands were without power in the UK. Sharp gusts blew roofs off buildings and toppled trees. Hundreds of schools closed in the coastal communities of Cornwall and Devon. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency urged people to keep away from the coast. "A selfie in stormy conditions isn't worth risking your life for," the agency tweeted.

(More Western Europe stories.)