One dead as high seas and gale-force winds batter UK and northern Europe

LONDON // Hurricane-force winds disrupted transport and power supplies in Scotland and threatened coastal flooding in England as they closed in on northern Europe in what meteorologists said could be one of the most powerful storms to hit the continent in years.

British authorities said the Thames Barrier, designed to protect London from flooding during exceptional tides, would be shut last night and warned of “the most serious coastal tidal surge for over 60 years in England”.

The British prime minister, David Cameron, called a meeting to discuss strategy.

One person was killed as winds of up to 225km an hour slammed into parts of the Scottish highlands, Britain’s weather office said. More than 80,000 homes were left without power, according to the energy company SSE.

That number was expected to rise with road connections blocked by fallen trees and debris.

A lorry driver was killed and four people injured when his vehicle overturned and collided with other vehicles in West Lothian, police said.

All train services in Scotland were suspended shortly after 8am local time until further notice because of debris on the tracks caused by storm Xaver. Glasgow Central station was evacuated after part of a glass roof collapsed, ScotRail announced.

Low-lying coastal areas in eastern England are particularly vulnerable to tidal surges but sea defences have been built up considerably since storms and flooding killed hundreds on the North Sea coast in 1953.

Authorities in Germany’s northern port city of Hamburg issued public warnings about the winds, which some forecasters said could be as powerful as a fatal storm and ensuing flood that hit the city in 1962 and killed 315 people.

The city on the Elbe River was preparing for a direct hit by the storm yesterday. Hamburg airport cancelled all flights in Germany’s second city as the storm approachd and many schools and Christmas markets were closed.

Ferries to Germany’s North Sea islands were kept in ports and some companies, such as machinery-maker Krones in Flensburg, closed their plants.

“Xaver has developed into hurricane force and it’ll be quite dangerous along the North Sea shore,” said Andreas Friedrich, a German weather-service meteorologist.

“The truly dangerous thing about this storm is that the winds will continue for hours and won’t let up. The danger of coastal flooding is high.”

Mr Friedrich said people were being advised to stay indoors across northern Germany because of the dangers, such as trees being toppled and parts of roofs blown off. The weather service issued an extreme weather warning for the northern states of Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and Bremen.

In Denmark, the railway company DSB said it would stop operating most trains during the storm. Alsie Express, an airline, cancelled all domestic flight yesterday. The 6.8-km long Great Belt Bridge, which includes a 1.6-km long suspension bridge section, was closed.

Trains in the northern Netherlands were halted as a precautionary measure, Dutch Railways said, as stormy weather disrupted transport across the country.

At Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, Europe’s fourth busiest, airlines cancelled 50 flights, an airport spokeswoman said, adding that there could be further cancellations.

* Reuters