High Winds and Rain Lash Northern Spain

Rain and strong winds lashed Spain’s northern coast Thursday, killing two people, endangering shipping and forcing mass evacuations, authorities said.

A man in northeastern Vizcaya province died when a tree fell on him in 75-m.p.h. winds. A fisherman was presumed dead after his boat disappeared off the coast of the northwestern region of Galicia.

Civil defense officials said Galicia was hardest hit by the storm, which flooded rivers and knocked out telephone service and electrical power in a wide area of Spain’s poorest region.

Army and civil guard units evacuated 2,500 people from the towns of Padron, south of the regional capital of Santiago de Compostella, and Caldas de Reyes after rivers overflowed their banks.