Europe Storm Leaves 11 Dead

A nasty storm killed at least 11 people in northern Europe today while snarling transportation and leaving half a million people without power, AFP reports. The storm's high winds and heavy rains claimed four lives in Britain and three in Germany, mostly from falling trees. On a French island, a woman disappeared under the waves, and a man in Denmark was killed by a flying brick when a wall collapsed. In Britain, rescuers gave up on a 14-year-old boy who vanished while playing on a southern beach yesterday.

Meanwhile, travel was a mess. Train services in the Netherlands, Denmark, England, and parts of Germany saw mass cancellations, and over 450 people were stuck on two ferries off the English port of Dover for more than two hours. In Britain, the storm spawned 130 flood warnings and forced the deputy prime minister to nix a press conference after a crane hit the roof of his government building. The good news: This storm appears less fierce than the "Great Storm" of 1987, which killed 22 and inflicted $1.6 billion in damage. (More Europe stories.)