Cyclone Kyrill

Kyrill is the name of a low pressure area that has evolved into a European windstorm. The low pressure area formed over Newfoundland on January 5, 2007 and moved across the Atlantic Ocean, reaching England and Wales by the evening of January 17. The storm was named on January 17, 2007 by the Free University of Berlin's metereological institute. As of January 18, 2007, 12:00 GMT, the storm was located over the North Sea, moving away from the British Isles and toward the coast of Northern Germany. It is expected to make landfall in the early evening hours of January 18. A storm tide with sea levels of up to 2 metres above mean sea level has been announced for the coastal areas of Lower Saxony by the state government.

Abstract

A European windstorm is a severe cyclonic storm that moves across the North Atlantic towards northwestern Europe in the winter months. These storms usually move over the north coast of Scotland towards Norway but can veer south to affect other countries including Ireland, Wales, England, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Poland. As these storms can generate hurricane-force winds (and sometimes even winds at the strength of major hurricanes), they are sometimes referred to as hurricanes, even though very few originate as tropical cyclones.

These storms rank as the second highest cause of global natural catastrophe insurance loss (after U.S. hurricanes).

What is unusual about Kyrill is that it is expected to effect large areas of Germany, which is contrary to the usual European winter storm, which normally only effects coastal areas and mountain ranges. Coming with Kyrill, however, gusts of up to 130 km/h are expected even in the North German plains, an area normally unaffected by severe storms. German weather experts have described the storm as a "once in a decade" event.

The last storm to affect Germany on a similar scale was Lothar, which hit in 1999.

Events

After making landfall in England in the late hours of January 17, the storm swept across Northern Ireland, Wales, England and Scotland on the night from the 17th to 18th of January, with winds of 130 km/h (81 mph) recorded at Aberdaron in the Llyn peninsula, 122 km/h (76 mph) in Mumbles near Swansea and winds of 101 km/h (63 mph) at St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan. The storm was seriously affecting the morning rush hour all over Great Britain, with heavy snowfalls in Scotland adding to the unpleasant situation. Train services between Cardiff and London Paddington had to be cancelled, and the East Coast Mainline was operating on a reduced timetable. The ferry service between Fishguard and Rosslare had to be cancelled as well. Wind strengths of up to 12 beaufort are expected across the Netherlands, Germany and parts of Austria, with wind gusts exceeding 150 km/h in exposed places, and the German Meterological Service has advised people to stay indoors and avoid unnecessary trips on January 18. The storm is moving across the German states of Lower Saxony, Bremen, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia first, expected to spread across the whole country in the evening hours of January 18. Wind gusts as high as 191 km/h had been measured on the Brocken in the Harz mountains by 16:00 CET. Ferry services to Heligoland and to the islands Hooge and Amrum are suspended since the morning hours of January 18.

Effects of the storm

The container ship MSC Napoli had to be abandoned in the English Channel due to the storm. 26 crew were picked up by British and French rescue services.

Public transport

More than 100 flights were cancelled at Heathrow airport and an approximate 25,000 homes in southern England were without electricity after electricity pylons were damaged by the storm. . German railway operator Deutsche Bahn had at first limited the maximum speed of its trains to 200 km/h, and several flights at Frankfurt International Airport were cancelled due to the bad weather. Between Elmshorn and Westerland, an InterCity train ran into a tree that had fallen onto the tracks. One of the locomotives was damaged, no casualties were reported. Deutsche Bahn decided to stop its complete service (long and short distance trains) in northern and western parts of Germany from 17:15 CET on 18 January onwards, as major main lines (Bremen-Hannover, Hamburg-Hanover, Bremen-Osnabrück) and many branch lines were affected by the storm.

Casualties

The managing director of Birmingham International Airport was killed on his way to work when his car windscreen was smashed into by a falling branch in Shropshire. Two other men died in road accidents in Berkshire and Yorkshire, and a woman was crushed by a wall in Stockport. A child in Munich was killed by a patio door breaking out of its hinges. In Baden-Württemberg, a motorist crashed into a fallen tree and died at the scene. Near Augsburg, a 73-year old man was hit by a barn door and died.