Europe Storm Deaths Hit 120; Blackouts Could Last Days

Thousands of people in France faced the prospect of New Year’s Eve without electricity after a second killer storm in three days brought fierce winds, torrential rains and violent waves to the coast.

Across Western Europe, the death toll from the storms reached 120.

The brunt of the latest system hit France’s southwestern corner, leaving a trail of destruction similar to the one that struck the north on Sunday: fallen power lines, uprooted trees, collapsed roofs and streets strewn with debris.

By dawn Tuesday, the front that had rolled in from the Atlantic had rolled out, leaving conditions calm across most of France. No new storms were forecast.

In the Vendee region on France’s western coast, more than 2,000 people were evacuated from their homes because of floods and spent the night in town halls. Officials said extensive damage to the country’s public transportation network, caused mostly by fallen trees or flooding, would not be completely repaired before the end of the year.

The death toll, which was 68 in France alone since Sunday, rose across Europe after snowstorms caused avalanches Tuesday in western and central Austria, killing 12 people. A helicopter crashed in snow and fog in central Hungary, killing all four people aboard.

At least 3.4 million French homes were without electricity, officials said, adding that many people probably won’t have power restored before the new year.

“France has been wounded, and many French are faced with cruel hardship just when they were about to celebrate the end of the year and the millennium,” President Jacques Chirac said.

In Paris, the swollen Seine River flooded roads and walkways in several parts of the city. Officials have asked the government to declare the city a disaster area.