LONDON, Feb 19, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Emergency crews Saturday battled to
restore power to hundreds of thousands of homes in Britain after Storm Eunice
carved a deadly trail across Western Europe and left transport networks in
disarray.

   At least 13 people were killed by falling trees, flying debris and high
winds in Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Poland,
according to emergency services.

   Train operators in Britain urged people not to travel, with timetables in
chaos after most of the network was shut down when Eunice on Friday brought
the largest wind gust ever recorded in England -- 122 miles (196 kilometres)
per hour.

   The train network in the Netherlands was also paralysed, with no Eurostar
and Thalys international services running from Britain and France after
damage to overhead power lines.

   France was also grappling with rail disruption, and about 75,000
households were without power.

   The UK was worst hit by power cuts with nearly 400,000 homes cut off
nationwide after one of the most powerful tempests since the "Great Storm"
hit Britain and northern France in 1987, sparking the first-ever "red"
weather warning for London on Friday.

   The Met Office, Britain's meteorological service, issued a less-severe
"yellow" wind warning for much of the south coast of England and South Wales
on Saturday, which it said "could hamper recovery efforts from Storm Eunice".

   Scientists said both the 1987 storm and Eunice packed a "sting jet", a
rarely seen meteorological phenomenon borne out of an unusual confluence of
pressure systems in the Atlantic that magnified the effects on Friday.

   - 'Explosive storms' -

   Ferries across the Channel, the world's busiest shipping lane, were
suspended, before the English port of Dover reopened Friday afternoon.

   Hundreds of flights were cancelled or delayed at London's Heathrow and
Gatwick airports and Schiphol in Amsterdam. One easyJet flight from Bordeaux
endured two aborted landings at Gatwick -- which saw wind gusts peak at 78
miles per hour -- before being forced to return to the French city.

   London's rush-hour streets, where activity has been slowly returning to
pre-pandemic levels, were virtually deserted Friday as many heeded government
advice to stay at home.

   The London Fire Brigade declared a "major incident" after taking 550
emergency calls in just over two hours -- although it complained that several
were "unhelpful", including one from a resident complaining about a
neighbour's garden trampoline blowing around.

   The RAC breakdown service said it had received unusually low numbers of
call-outs on Britain's main roads, indicating that motorists were "taking the
weather warnings seriously and not setting out".

   Experts said the frequency and intensity of the storms could not be linked
necessarily to climate change.

   But Richard Allan, professor of climate science at the University of
Reading, said a heating planet was leading to more intense rainfall and
higher sea levels.

   Therefore, he said, "flooding from coastal storm surges and prolonged
deluges will worsen still further when these rare, explosive storms hit us in
a warmer world".