Audrey Woods, London

Fierce storms left more than 250,000 homes and businesses across northern Europe without power today as crews from Russia to Ireland began cleaning up the wreckage.

Powerful winds and heavy rain swept across northern Europe from Ireland to Russia over the weekend, leaving at least 15 dead by yesterday, inundating areas of Britain and disrupting air and sea transport. Hundreds of thousands of homes lost power.

At least ten people were killed and hundreds of thousands were without power when a storm with hurricane-strength winds swept through northern Europe late yesterday and early today.