"Richard Dixon" schreef in bericht
. 253...
: "Philip Eden" philipATweatherHYPHENukDOTcom wrote in news:497b13bd$0
: :
:
: In 12 years of records I have recorded
: gusts over 20mph only four times, and none above 26mph,
: although the station was, sadly, out of action during the storms
: of December 1999.
:
: Philip - I did a quick check on the larger gusts today at Bordeaux and
: Biarritz and in comparison to Windstorm Martin - the 2nd of the 2 Dec 99
: storms - Windstorm Klaus (today's event) had stronger winds.

Météo France, quoted on the France 2 website
http://info.france2.fr/france/50821604-fr.php , indicates that a number of
wind speed records have been broken in this storm: gusts of 184 km/hr (114
mph - 99 kn) at Perpignan, 172 km/hr (107 mph - 93 kn) at Biscarosse in the
Landes department, and 161 km/hr (100 mph - 87 kn) at Bordeaux.

At 22.00 this evening 1.3 million households were without electricity -
including almost all the 300 000 consumers in Pyrénées-Orientales following
the breakage of a 400 000 volt high-tension cable. Earlier in the day the
total had reached 1.7 million.

4 people have been killed in France - 2 drivers by trees falling on their
cars, a man of 78 hit by flying debris, and a man in his 70s with breathing
problems whose respirator failed in a power cut.

Colin Youngs
Brussels