Fierce storms kill 28 across Europe, US

Audrey Woods, London

Large areas of Europe were affected by floods air and sea transport were disrupted and more than 250,000 homes lost power.

The storm was one of the worst to hit Scandinavia in years, with winds clocked in some areas at more than 75mph.

At least seven people died in Sweden, including two whose cars were hit by falling branches. One motorist died in Denmark when a tree crashed onto his car in Odense, and three others were killed by debris and falling trees.

In the north German state of Schleswig-Holstein, two 20-year-old men whose kayak capsized on a lake near the town of Landwedel were missing and presumed dead.

In St Petersburg, cars ploughed through bumper-deep water on flooded streets, and six subway stations were shut because water levels on the gulf were dangerously high, a city emergency official said.

In Finland, sea levels reached record highs, cutting off several coastal roads, but no major damage was reported. Rescue teams piled thousands of sandbags and large bales of recycled paper on the waterfront in downtown Helsinki near the president’s palace where the sea rose five feet above normal levels onto the streets and market place.

In Sweden more than 400,000 households were without power.

In Denmark, about 60,000 households lost electricity.

In the US, areas of the Sierra Nevada have been hit with the heaviest snowfall in almost 90 years, with steep drifts stranding a passenger train, knocking out the Reno airport and shutting down major highways across the mountains.

Up to 19 feet of snow has fallen at elevations above 7,000 feet since December 28, and 6.5 feet fell at lower elevations in the Reno area. Meteorologists said it was the most snow in the Reno-Lake Tahoe area since 1916.

Storms also have caused flooding in southern California and Arizona, deadly avalanches in Utah and ice damage and flooding in the Ohio Valley.

The weather was blamed for at least 12 weekend deaths in southern California, including a homeless man killed by a landslide. Along the storms’ eastward track, avalanches killed two people on Saturday in Utah, authorities said.

An avalanche yesterday killed a 13-year-old boy after knocking him from a ski lift at the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort, 45 miles northwest of Las Vegas. No other injuries have been reported.

About 25 motorists were rescued by National Guard members after they become stranded overnight on Highway 395 about 20 miles south of Reno.

Motorists had to wait up to six hours until rescuers could reach them.