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Hurricane force winds lashed Spain and France Saturday, killing a dozen people, including four children when part of a sports hall collapsed, while nearly two million were left without power.
High winds brought down part of the sports hall in Sant Boi de Llobregat, in northeastern Spain near Barcelona, a regional government spokeswoman said, killing the four children and injuring nine.
Spanish media reported that the children had been playing baseball outside but took shelter in the building.
"It seems that the roof shifted and brought down part of the wall," the spokeswoman said.
French forecasters warned the storms could be as ferocious as the tempest in 1999, which uprooted millions of trees, although over a "more limited geographical area."
They reported record-breaking winds, reaching 184 kilometres (115 miles) an hour at Perpignan in French Catalonia, and sounded a red alert across nine departments for the first time, though reduced it to two later in the day.
The winds caused widespread disruption in both countries, with some 1.7 million homes experiencing power cuts in France, according to electricity grid operator ERDF, and tens of thousands in Spain as high voltage lines were brought down.
They also wreaked havoc on the roads, with fallen trees hampering engineers struggling to restore power. French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said 715 additional staff had been sent to the region to assist.
"It's the apocalypse," said Peio Poueyts, in the tourism office in the French city of Biarritz on the Atlantic coast.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced he would visit the region on Sunday.
Apart from the children in the sports hall, a 52-year-old woman died in Barcelona late on Friday, when she was crushed by a collapsed wall.
In Galicia, in northwestern Spain, a civil guard sergeant was killed by a falling tree as he was directing traffic.
In the southeastern Spanish province of Alicante, a 51-year-old man was also killed by a collapsed wall, while one of six seamen rescued from their Portuguese cargo ship by helicopter off Galicia died, media reported.
The death toll also included a municipal employee near Barcelona.
In the Landes department of southwest France, two drivers were killed by falling trees while a 78-year-old died when he was hit by flying debris outside his home, local authorities said.
ator SNCF said there would be no trains in the region before Sunday
High winds brought down part of the sports hall in Sant Boi de Llobregat, in northeastern Spain near Barcelona, a regional government spokeswoman said, killing the four children and injuring nine.
Spanish media reported that the children had been playing baseball outside but took shelter in the building.
"It seems that the roof shifted and brought down part of the wall," the spokeswoman said.
French forecasters warned the storms could be as ferocious as the tempest in 1999, which uprooted millions of trees, although over a "more limited geographical area."
They reported record-breaking winds, reaching 184 kilometres (115 miles) an hour at Perpignan in French Catalonia, and sounded a red alert across nine departments for the first time, though reduced it to two later in the day.
The winds caused widespread disruption in both countries, with some 1.7 million homes experiencing power cuts in France, according to electricity grid operator ERDF, and tens of thousands in Spain as high voltage lines were brought down.
They also wreaked havoc on the roads, with fallen trees hampering engineers struggling to restore power. French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said 715 additional staff had been sent to the region to assist.
"It's the apocalypse," said Peio Poueyts, in the tourism office in the French city of Biarritz on the Atlantic coast.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced he would visit the region on Sunday.
Apart from the children in the sports hall, a 52-year-old woman died in Barcelona late on Friday, when she was crushed by a collapsed wall.
In Galicia, in northwestern Spain, a civil guard sergeant was killed by a falling tree as he was directing traffic.
In the southeastern Spanish province of Alicante, a 51-year-old man was also killed by a collapsed wall, while one of six seamen rescued from their Portuguese cargo ship by helicopter off Galicia died, media reported.
The death toll also included a municipal employee near Barcelona.
In the Landes department of southwest France, two drivers were killed by falling trees while a 78-year-old died when he was hit by flying debris outside his home, local authorities said.
ator SNCF said there would be no trains in the region before Sunday
