miércoles, 30 de octubre de 2013

Saint Jude's storm: tributes paid to couple killed in London house blast - The Guardian

Friends and colleagues have paid tribute to two people killed when hurricane-force winds during the Saint Jude's storm uprooted a tree in west London, which led to a gas explosion.

Suhail Akhtar, 46, and his girlfriend, Dorota Kolasinska, 34, were found dead under rubble after their home in Hounslow was destroyed by the suspected gas mains blast.

The couple, who reportedly had been together for about 10 years, were among four people killed as the worst storm to hit the UK for years swept through southern England, leaving a trail of destruction.

Kolsinska, who had worked for Hackney council for nine months as a traffic light sequencer, was described as "extremely popular and hardworking".

Kim Wright, corporate director of health and community services at the council in east London, said: "This is a truly tragic incident and our thoughts and sympathies are with Dorota's family, friends and colleagues."

Those who knew Akhtar, who worked as an IT contractor for the services firm Atos, said they were devastated by the news.

A close friend, Sheldon Hawkshaw, told the Evening Standard: "He was a go-to guy. He always had time for everyone. He always made us laugh and will be sorely missed."

A Scotland Yard spokesman said results were awaited from postmortem examinations on the couple.

The death total of four from storm-related incidents does not include Dylan Alkins, a 14-year-old swept out to sea from a Sussex beach on Sunday, who remained missing.

Hurricane-force winds sweeping across northern Europe raised the toll. Reports said six people were killed in Germany, and a further two drowned off the country's coast. In the Netherlands, a woman aged 24 was reported to have died after being struck by a falling tree in Amsterdam. In Brittany, a woman was missing, thought swept out to sea, and in Denmark a man was killed when he was hit by a brick.

On Tuesday in the UK, as the cleanup operation continued, tens of thousands of homes remained without power two days on.

About 50,000 properties in the east and south-east of England were without electricity. on Tuesday evening

UK Power Networks said the storm was the biggest the company had coped with since 2002 and had affected power supplies to nearly 620,000 customers. It hoped to get 98% of supplies restored by Wednesday, though some homes could be without until the end of the week.

Some rail services were disrupted on Tuesday, but operators said they were expected return to normal by Wednesday.

Estimates of the financial damage from the storm, dubbed Saint Jude after the patron of lost causes, on whose day it struck, were not expected until later this week, the Association of British Insurers said.

Winds of up to 99mph were recorded at the Needles, Isle of Wight, and up to 6cm (2.4in) of rain, half the monthly average, fell in a just few hours in areas of Hampshire and Devon, causing flash floods.

The British Red Cross, which assists power companies during outages, said the storm had prompted one of its largest deployments of personnel for many years.

Simon Lewis, head of emergency planning and response, said staff had helped hundreds of vulnerable people who had registered for assistance in the event of an emergency.

Lewis said that volunteer staff provided torches and blankets at a Suffolk care home, and in another case boiling water for a mother of five so she could make up formula milk.

"Having no power and being in the dark [vulnerable people] need the practical and emotional support and our volunteers can sit with them, talk to them … and provide them light by torches," Lewis said.

Up to 50 youngsters gathered at West Beach in Newhaven, East Sussex, for a vigil two days after Dylan vanished while playing in the surf. Balloons with hand-written messages were released into the sky and flowers were thrown into the sea in his memory.

One of his friends, Aaron Gilbert, 15, said: "I was hoping it was just a bad dream. I woke up crying. We'd come down every day in the summer but I never thought he would come down when it was really rough. I wish I could have stopped him."

Coastguards stood down their rescue operation for Dylan, shifting to trying to recover his body.

Another teenager, Bethany Freeman, aged 17, died when she was crushed by a nine-metre (30ft) tree that fell on the caravans she and her family were living in during renovation work at their home in Edenbridge, Kent.

Known as Gia, she said to be a universally respected sixth-form pupil at Tunbridge Wells Grammar school, and the school's website said she had "had everything to look forward to". Her driving instructor arrived at her home in Lydens Lane to give her a lesson not knowing about the accident.

In a statement issued through Kent police, her mother, Tess Peirce, said: "We are all absolutely devastated at the loss of my daughter. I would like to thank the emergency services for their tremendous efforts in attempting to save her."

Another casualty was Donal Drohan, 51, a father of three children, from Harrow in north-west London, who died when his car was hit by a falling tree at the bridge over the River Colne in Watford.

Drohan, from Harrow, west London, was "in the wrong place at the wrong time" when his car was struck, police said.

John Lee, a weather forecaster for the Press Association, said it was the most powerful storm in years. He said that on Friday there was "an indication that stormy weather could return" but it was likely to bring heavy rain rather than strong winds.

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