Storm 'Christian' wreaks havoc across Europe
With more than 170 kilometers per hour, storm 'Christian' has wreaked havoc across parts of Europe. The toll: Several people dead, chaos for travellers and hundreds of thousands of housholds suffering power cuts.
A trail of destruction
"Christian" left a trail of destruction in the north and center of Germany. In the town of Göttingen, parts of the front of a university building were torn off and crashed on several parked cars. No one was harmed. In total, seven people died in the storm in Germany.
Fallen trees
As shown here in Hamburg, trees got ripped out of the ground and crashed on streets, rail tracks and buildings. Several people died in their cars when trees fell on the road. Fire brigades were employed night and day.
Traffic deadlock
In the north of the country, large parts of the train service collapsed. Travellers had to wait for hours and many never made it to their destination. Air travel was also affected with many flights being cancelled. Hamburg airport shut down check-in completely for some time.
London takes a hit
Before the storm hit Germany, it devastated parts of the UK. Called the St. Jude´s Day storm, in London this crane fell on a government building downtown. In the south of England, at least four people were killed in the storm. Several hundred thousand households suffered from power cuts.
Heavy seas
The north of France was also severely affected. Waves meters high thrashed the Atlantic coast as here at Boulogne-sur-Mer. On Belle-Ile a woman fell into the sea and drowned. France was also hit by power cuts. The ferries between Calais and Dover were interrupted for some time.
Man v wind
Umbrellas stood little chance against the strong winds. In the Belgian capital of Brussels there's been plenty of rain though luckily no floods.
Looking back at "Sandy"
Exactly one year ago, hurricane "Sandy" devastated the US east coast. New York and New Jersey were particularly hit: 159 people died and more than 650,000 houses were destroyed. This building in Sea Briht was ripped from its foundations by the storm.
Expensive reconstruction
One year on, the buildings have been restored. Nothing remains of the damage the storm left. In total the reconstruction of buildings and infrastructure cost an estimated 80 billion dollars which made the storm the second most expensive one in the history of the US.
Still struggling with the damages
Reconstruction didn't go that quickly everywhere though. In Seaside Park, diggers are still working. Even the Statue of Liberty in New York remained closed until July 4 2013. While the statue was not harmed, infrastructure and the base got damaged.