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Worst Storms for Nearly 20 years Batter UK
• 13 dead and major damage and disruption across the country as 100 mile per hour winds pound UK
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By
Roxsana, Environment editor
Sunday,
21 January, 2007
The worst storms for nearly 20 years swept the UK on 18th January 2007 leaving at least 13 people dead, hundreds of thousands without power, and severe damage to property as gales and heavy downpours hit the UK.
The managing director of Birmingham Airport, Richard Heard, 49, died after a branch fell on his Range Rover in Shropshire, and a male passenger in a Ford Fiesta was killed when a tree fell on the car in Streatley, Berkshire.
With wind speeds reaching 100mph in some areas, trees came down and roofs were ripped off buildings. Flights from Heathrow airport and national rail services out of London were severely disrupted.
Twenty-six mariners were rescued from a damaged container ship in the English Channel, 50 miles (80km) off the Lizard in Cornwall. Amid fears of breaking up the ship was being towed over the weekend the stricken 62,000 tonne MS Napoli was being towed by a French tug towards Lyme Bay in Dorset, a harbour on England’s World Heritage listed Jurassic coastline.
By Monday 22nd January it was reported that containers had fallen over board and there were fears of an ecological disaster if any of the toxic cargo broke open.
While England experienced high winds, Scotland saw its first major snowfalls of 2007, bringing road and rail disruption.
Despite an unusually mild start to January, forecasters have warned that temperatures are likely to plummet beyond the end of the month.
The Naked Reader 2006
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