A major storm with hurricane-force gusts lashed southern Britain, the Netherlands and parts of France on Monday, knocking down trees, flooding low areas and causing travel chaos. Four deaths were reported.
Weather forecasters say it's one of the worst storms to hit Britain in years. Gusts of 99 miles per hour (160 kph) were reported on the Isle of Wight in southern England, while gusts up to 80 mph hit the U.K. mainland.
London's Heathrow Airport, Europe's busiest, cancelled at least 130 flights and express trains between central London and Gatwick and Stansted airports were suspended.
UK Power Networks officials said up to 270,000 homes were without power. Thousands of homes in northwestern France also lost electricity, while in the Netherlands several rail lines shut down, airport delays were reported.
The storm has hurricane-force gusts but is not classified as a hurricane since it did not form over warm expanses of open ocean like the hurricanes that batter the Caribbean and the eastern United States.
Britain does not get hurricanes because hurricanes are "warm latitude" storms that draw their energy from seas far warmer than the North Atlantic.
http://news.yahoo.com/hurricane-force-gusts-batter-uk-113908544.html;_ylt=A2KLOzIKfm5SbDMAWZjQtDMD
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