A winter snow storm that struck regions of the northern United Kingdom as well as Germany, Denmark, Norway and Sweden last week tore off roofs, cut power lines and caused numerous traffic accidents among other damage, said Boston-based Air Worldwide.
The catastrophe modeling firm said at this point it had no insured loss estimate for storm Resi (Tuva in Scandinavia), which hit on Thursday.
Air said the storm carried fierce winds and heavy snow, closing ports, roads and bridges and disrupting power to thousands of homes.
The firm said the storm's peak gusts reached 80 kilometers, 49.6 miles per hour, in Humberside in northern England, according to Meteorological Terminal Aviation Routine (METAR) data.
Off the coast, massive waves and high winds forced a ferry to run aground north of Blackpool. The Port of Dover in southeast England was closed to shipping yesterday morning amidst 96 kilometer, 59.5 mph, hour gusts, Air said.
Justin Cox, research meteorologist at Air Worldwide, said Resi was a low pressure system that intensified Thursday as it approached the United Kingdom, "It had a central pressure of 975 millibars (mb) before its strong cold front crossed England as it moved into the North Sea," he explained.
On Friday, "the front became occluded and the low intensified to 965 mb. The occluded front wrapped around the low center and delivered strong winds to Norway," said Mr. Cox.
The storm's strong winds also made U.K. driving conditions treacherous with fifty mile segments of highway closed to traffic as wind and snow continued to cause accidents. Train services were disrupted to and from London's Waterloo station when a tree fell on a busy railway line in Surrey.
In Scotland, officials closed the Forth Road Bridge following an accident. Gusts up to 128 kilometers, 79.4 mph, blasted Scotland's western coast, forcing the cancellation of ferries and flights. Loganair cancelled several of its services from Glasgow. A Ryanair flight between Belfast and Prestwick had to be diverted, and several other Glasgow-Heathrow flights were delayed.
Resi also ripped the roof off St Clement's Church in Aberdeen.
In Norway, high winds and dense snow disrupted power to 6,000 homes, including residences in Agder, Telemark, Vestfold and Oestfold as violent winds tore roofs from homes.
Vestfold police warned citizens to remain indoors. Gusts, rain, sleet and snow continued in Norway through the night and moved into Sweden, where 17,000 homes were without power Friday morning. In North Wales, power was disrupted to 1,000 homes.
Meanwhile, European forecasters note that despite the occurrence of high winds in the week beginning January 21, wind speeds associated with this winter's storms in general have been relatively light.
AIR said it is continuing to monitor events in Europe and will release additional information if warranted.
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