Brussels: At least 10 people were killed as Storm Ciaran battered Western Europe with record winds of up to 200 kilometers per hour, causing travel mayhem with closed ports and flight and rail disruptions.
Three people died in Tuscany, Italian authorities announced on Friday, reporting record rainfall and the declaration of a state of emergency.
Tuscany governor Eugenio Giani said the three dead included an 85-year-old man who was found drowned in his house.
“What happened tonight in Tuscany has a name: climate change,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Florence mayor Dario Nardella said the “situation is critical” in the city.
Trees felled by gale-force winds caused most of the deaths in Europe. In the Belgian city of Ghent, a five-year-old Ukrainian boy and a 64-year-old woman were killed by falling branches.
Falling trees had earlier killed a lorry driver in his vehicle in northern France’s Aisne region, and French authorities also reported the death of a man who fell from his balcony in the port city of Le Havre.
A man in the Dutch town of Venray, a woman in central Madrid and a person in Germany also died.
Some 1.2 million French homes lost electricity as the storm lashed the northwest coast. Almost 700,000 remained without power on Thursday evening, according to network manager Enedis.
French President Emmanuel Macron was due to visit the storm-battered region of Brittany on Friday, the Elysee presidential palace said.
The storm interrupted rail, air and maritime traffic in Belgium where the port of Antwerp was closed and flights from Brussels were disrupted.
The wind gusts in the western Brittany region were “exceptional” and “many absolute records have been broken,” national weather service Meteo-France said on X.
The prefect for the local department said gusts as high as 207 km/h (129 mph) were recorded at Pointe du Raz on the tip of the northwest coast, while the port city of Brest saw winds hit 156 km/h.
In southern England, hundreds of schools were closed as large waves powered by winds of 135 km/h crashed along the coastline.
On the Channel Island of Jersey, residents had to be evacuated to hotels overnight as gusts of up to 164 km/h damaged homes, according to local media.
More than 200 flights were canceled at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, a major European hub.
Air, rail and ferry services saw cancelations and long delays across several countries.
The effects of the storm were felt as far south as Spain and Portugal, with Spanish authorities warning of waves as high as nine meters (29 feet) along the Atlantic coast.
In Spain, more than 80 flights were canceled at 11 airports.
There was disappointment for the hardy athletes of the annual Dutch “headwind cycle championships” race.
They only hold their race along the Oosterscheldekering storm surge barrier in the western Netherlands if the wind is above a gale seven on the Beaufort Scale (up to 61 km/h).
But they finally met their match with Storm Ciaran and had to postpone it.
There were “many disappointed faces,” organizer Robrecht Stoekenbroek told local agency ANP, vowing to go ahead when the storm passed.
The French weather service said storms would continue into Friday, notably in the southwest of the country and on the island of Corsica.
Rail services in western parts of the country would remain disrupted on Friday, said Transport Minister Clement Beaune.
Ten dead as Storm Ciaran batters Western Europe
https://arab.news/9dh83
Ten dead as Storm Ciaran batters Western Europe
- Florence mayor Dario Nardella said the “situation is critical” in the city
- In Spain, more than 80 flights were canceled at 11 airports
Trump renews push to annex Greenland
- President Donald Trump doubled down Sunday on his claim that Greenland should become part of the United States, despite calls by Denmark’s prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory
COPENHAGEN: President Donald Trump doubled down Sunday on his claim that Greenland should become part of the United States, despite calls by Denmark’s prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory.
Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the Arctic.
While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal.
“We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question.
“We’ll worry about Greenland in about two months... let’s talk about Greenland in 20 days.”
Over the weekend, the Danish prime minister called on Washington to stop “threatening its historical ally.”
“I have to say this very clearly to the United States: it is absolutely absurd to say that the United States should take control of Greenland,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement.
She also noted that Denmark, “and thus Greenland,” was a NATO member protected by the agreement’s security guarantees.
’Disrespectful’
Trump rattled European leaders by attacking Caracas and grabbing Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, who is now being detained in New York.
Trump has said the United States will now “run” Venezuela indefinitely and tap its huge oil reserves.
Asked in a telephone interview with The Atlantic about the implications of the Venezuela military operation for mineral-rich Greenland, Trump said it was up to others to decide.
“They are going to have to view it themselves. I really don’t know,” Trump was quoted as saying.
He added: “But we do need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for defense.”
Hours later, former aide Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it “SOON.”
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen called Miller’s post “disrespectful.”
“Relations between nations and peoples are built on mutual respect and international law — not on symbolic gestures that disregard our status and our rights,” he wrote on X.
But he also said “there is neither reason for panic nor for concern. Our country is not for sale, and our future is not decided by social media posts.”
Allies?
Stephen Miller is widely seen as the architect of much of Trump’s policies, guiding the president on his hard-line immigration policies and domestic agenda.
Denmark’s ambassador to the United States, Jesper Moeller Soerensen, offered a pointed “friendly reminder” in response to Katie Miller’s post that his country has “significantly boosted its Arctic security efforts” and worked together with Washington on that.
“We are close allies and should continue to work together as such,” Soerensen wrote.
Katie Miller was deputy press secretary under Trump at the Department of Homeland Security during his first term.
She later worked as communications director for then-vice president Mike Pence and also acted as his press secretary.
Meanwhile, France reiterated on Monday its support of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Denmark and Greenland following renewed threats by US President Donald Trump to take over Greenland.
When asked about France’s reaction, Foreign Ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux told TF1 TV: “It is solidarity with Denmark...Greenland belongs to Greenland’s people and to Denmark’s people. It is up to them to decide what they wish to do. Borders cannot be changed by force.”
