STOCKHOLM: Deadly Storm Babet unleashed extensive flooding and damaged towns in Denmark and Norway late Friday (Oct 20) and early Saturday, while continuing to sweep across the UK.
Three people died in Scotland and England and families were trapped in flooded homes on Friday as the storm battered Britain and Ireland.
After it made landfall in Scandinavia, the storm triggered a sharp rise in water levels in towns in southern Denmark, flooding the first floor of homes which were left without power for several hours.
Water levels in several Danish towns exceeded their normal height by more than 2m, levels normally only reached once every hundred years, according to Denmark’s DMI weather service.
“We are having to clear large quantities of water from the towns, especially in southern Jutland,” Martin Vendelbo of the Danish Emergency Management Agency told the Ritzau news agency.
Fishing boats were left stranded or about to sink in the port town of Rodvig, according to photos from Danish media.
In southern Norway, up to 20,000 residents were without power early Saturday after strong winds blew roofs off buildings and downed trees and power masts, but the Norwegian news agency NTB said the situation was improving.