A powerful storm system has claimed a life in southwest England and plunged large parts of Europe into darkness and chaos, with severe winds, snow, and ice causing widespread damage. The victim, a man in his 50s, was killed when a tree fell onto his caravan during the peak of Storm Goretti.
Fatal Incident and Storm Fury in the UK
Devon and Cornwall Police confirmed the tragic death in the town of Helston, Cornwall, on Friday. The man was found deceased inside the caravan after the tree struck it overnight from Thursday to Friday. Storm Goretti battered southwestern Cornwall and parts of Wales with ferocious wind gusts reaching speeds of up to 160 kilometres per hour.
The high winds led to significant damage, uprooting trees and severely damaging power lines. This left tens of thousands of households without electricity. The UK's Met Office issued continued weather warnings for snow and ice across most of the country on Saturday, highlighting the risk of dangerous black ice causing further disruption in Scotland and northern England.
Widespread European Disruption and Power Cuts
The impact of the severe weather extended far beyond the British Isles, creating a wave of transport disruptions and power failures across northern Europe.
In the UK, around 28,000 homes in southwestern England and the Midlands were still without power at the start of the weekend, according to the National Grid. Scotland faced particular challenges, with heavy snowfall earlier in the week forcing the closure of approximately 250 schools during the first week back after the Christmas break.
France reported nearly 100,000 homes without electricity on Saturday morning due to the storms. Germany's rail network, Deutsche Bahn, began restoring long-distance services on Saturday after a complete suspension the previous day caused by a separate storm named Elli.
However, disruptions persisted, especially in Hamburg. Heavy snowfall there compounded the problems, leading to several key rail routes being suspended:
- Connections from Hamburg to Copenhagen
- Services to Amsterdam
- Routes linking Hamburg to Hanover
Services to Berlin and the Ruhr region were expected to be gradually restored.
Mounting Death Toll and Broader Impact
The series of storms and freezing temperatures across the continent this week has had a deadly human cost. At least 15 people have died in weather-related incidents as the severe conditions disrupted travel, shut down schools, and cut power to hundreds of thousands.
The situation underscores the vulnerability of infrastructure to extreme weather events, which are becoming more frequent and intense. The storms have highlighted the challenges faced by emergency services and utility companies in restoring normalcy during widespread crises.
