Storm Malik hits northern Europe, kills several people

A powerful winter storm has swept through northern Europe this weekend, killing several people, destroying houses and vehicles. Strong winds have struck the United Kingdom, Denmark, Poland and Germany, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes without power. Bridges were shut, trains cancelled and ferries docked as coastal surges led to flooding. In the U.K., a 9-year-old boy in Staffordshire and a 60-year-old woman in Scotland were killed on Saturday by falling trees. Danish media also reported that a 78-year-old woman died from severe injuries after falling in strong winds. In the Czech Republic, two workers were buried by a 5-meter wall that was blown down in an industrial area.
Some 130,000 homes across England were without electricity after power lines were cut. As the storm moved eastward, the fire department in the German capital, Berlin, declared an emergency and ordered residents to stay home. The storm system, which is known as Nadia in Germany and Malik in other countries, intensified a day earlier bringing hurricane-level winds at times to the North Sea and Baltic Sea coastlines. Severe damage to houses, cars and boats, among other things, were reported in Norway while heavy snowfall throughout Finland caused road crashes and disrupted bus and train traffic in parts of the country.