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Superstorm Pounds UK: Leads To Deaths, Black Outs, Traffic Suspensions And Flight Cancelations

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/28/2013 09:02 -0400

Almost exactly one year after Superstorm Sandy crushed the eastern seaboard of the USA, and 26 years after the last devastating storm to hit the south of England, the so-called St.Jude's Day storm - among the worst in recent memory - is battering the UK (and some of Europe) with winds up to 99 mph. So far there are 2 reported deaths, 220,000 homes without power, all SouthWest trains halted, and over 130 flights cancelled at Heathrow airport. Two nuclear plants have been shutdown and hundreds of trees have fallen blocking roads and rail links across as the storm begins to shift into mainland Europe...

Satellite image of the storm...

Via Reuters,

A teenage girl was killed when a tree fell onto her home while she slept during a fierce storm that battered southern Britain, police said on Monday.Police said they were called to the scene at 0718 GMT in Hever in Kent following a report the 17-year old was severely injured."Sadly the 17-year old died," police said in a statement. "The incident is not being treated as suspicious."Britain's strongest storm in a decade battered southern regions on Monday, forcing hundreds of flight cancellations, cutting power lines and disrupting the travel plans of millions of commuters.

Via ANP,

Amsterdam Fire Brigade Says Stay Inside as Storm Kills 2

BBC News reports a double-decker bus blown over...

Hundreds of trees have fallen...

A large crane fell on the UK's Cabinet office.

Power firm EDF say that have partially shut down two nuclear reactors in Kent due to the storm. We are trying to get more information on this.

"The shutdown was weather-related. The plant reacted as it should and shut down safely," an EDF Energy spokeswoman said.

and destruction is rife...

But there remains hope for recovery...

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Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:05 | 4097152 LawsofPhysics

Complete propaganda. This is just the usual post-football hooliganism.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:06 | 4097157 Zer0head

on topic

Bloomberg Europe like CNBC Euorpe does not appear to serve Kool Aid

two worthwhile interviews

U.S. Might Be Stuck in QE Trap: Plavnik
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/u-s-might-be-stuck-in-qe-trap-plavnik-dzE...

There May Be No Exit From QE: Malmgren
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/there-may-be-no-exit-from-qe-malmgren-oE9...

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:15 | 4097172 Looney

All these Superstorms are all Bush's fault! ;-)

Looney

P.S. And as to the "hooliganism", this is a PRE-football hooliganism...

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:48 | 4097314 Sofa King Confused

Unless the storm had taken out Buckingham Palace and the entire inbred royal family..........who gives a shit?

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:40 | 4097281 azzhatter

Christie and Obamao are on the way

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 10:19 | 4097401 Eireann go Brach

Yanks are too fat and stupid to get up and riot! At least the hooligans can get off their arses!

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 10:26 | 4097423 shovelhead

We don't have to.

We have minorities and illegal aliens for that sort of thing.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:07 | 4097160 Stoploss

FEMA is on the way!!!!

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:13 | 4097173 GeezerGeek

England, the new New Orleans.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:53 | 4097327 RaceToTheBottom

Quick start shooting people on bridges

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 12:49 | 4098031 TBT or not TBT

Any relation to the 1ft high tsunami that ravaged the ZH comments section this last weekend? Seriously, you get storms like this regularly in the Midwest, several times a year. 2 deaths in a cuntry (sic) with the population the UK has? Probably thousands died there that day from various chronic diseases and old age, etc. 2?

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:08 | 4097164 TyrannoSoros Wrecks

meh, screw em.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:09 | 4097165 GolfHatesMe

"I was unaware HAARP could do this" - Barry

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:09 | 4097166 Dr. Engali

Prayers for all the victims of the storm. It's unfortunate that it the crane missed it's target.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:11 | 4097168 One And Only

Looks like obamacare feels.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:15 | 4097177 Hughing

BULLISH!!

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:16 | 4097182 The Shootist

Keynesian GDP booster.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:18 | 4097191 q99x2

Nice catch of the UFO siphoning oil beneath a rainbow.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:20 | 4097198 Winston Churchill

Worst in memory? Hyperbole. Just a November storm.

They had a full scale hurricane in 1987 which coincided with the market crash.

I know, I was there.No wonder humans don't learn from history.We are generally nacissistic

assholes as a species.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:33 | 4097242 Headbanger

Yeah but that's an improvement from us being sadistic assholes.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 12:51 | 4098038 TBT or not TBT

Or sarcastic ones.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:51 | 4097320 DeadFred

The cause of the 1987 crash is thought to be insurance companies getting cash to pay claims from an over the weekend storm by liquidating assets into an overbought market made fragile by computer driven trading. Thank God we don't have to worry about that nowdays.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 13:22 | 4098161 writingsonthewall

I've read all the comments on here - and yours is the only one 'worth' anything.

Clearly the yanks still have that chip on their shoulder about "ours is ALWAYS bigger than yours" - the last desperate cries of a collapsing civilisation.

It's not the size - it's what you do with it.

Interstingly the cost of cleaning up this minor storm is TWICE the cost of cleaning up the 1987 storm - so we're either into 'inflation reality' or the desperate businesses (mainly tree surgeons) are trying to squeeze every last penny out of the collapsing state.

Of course another happy coincidence with 1987 is the ridiculous housing bubble whcih dimwit Osborne has created. As with all deperate Government gambles it's not done what it was 'expected' to. A bubble in London which is at laughable levels - and a complete collapse in the rest of the country.

The real storm lies in these houses - you only need to watch our version of 'amatuer home flippers' to see the classic "we're retrired, but we're taking money from our pension - because of the lack of return" - putting your money into an illiquid assest AFTER you retire is the stuff of legendary hyperinflationary actions.

Good luck with that your brainless morons - this is going to be fun. I'm glad I took early retirement (at 39) thanks to the BoE paying my mortgage for me - so I can sit back and watch the calamity unfold.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:20 | 4097201 1stepcloser

Are they crying like the Jersy fucks after superstorm Sandy?

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:40 | 4097278 Theta_Burn

Aren't you special, that you didn't have to live through "superstorm" sandy. I hope that you and your immediate family never have to cry like fucks in similar circumstance.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:53 | 4097297 1stepcloser

ahhh I lived through real hurricanes...and know pussification when I see it...Jersy is soft, hence Jersy shore TV show... Florida 2004 We'd rocked that Shit... 4 canes in 6 weeks...STFU

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:59 | 4097342 Theta_Burn

My mistake, your right, Sandy was no big deal, and a bunch of idiots, filming a bunch of idiots...from NY visiting the jersey shore in the summer completely defines us...

And we wonder why America is doomed...

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 12:53 | 4098051 TBT or not TBT

RINOs like Christie? Do tell.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 22:35 | 4100067 Ident 7777 economy

" My mistake, your right "

MAKE NOTE: IT IS: "MY MISTAKE, YOU'RE RIGHT"

What you wrote makes no damn sense ...

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:20 | 4097203 tawse57

Most people in the UK are wondering what the fuss has all been about - it has been like a normal Autumn gale. The difference is that this time it has affected London and the Home Counties so all the poncie media types are getting excited by nothing.

Yes, two people have been killed by falling trees - which is tragic - but the BBC and Sky News have for days been warning us of a coming hurricane but, for most Welsh, Scots, Irish and Northern English, it was just a pretty average and normal October gale.

The rich in London, Berkshire, Essex, Surrey Hampshire and Sussex seem to have got their knickers in a twist though.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:30 | 4097237 TeamDepends

Just wait until Liverpool crushes Arsenal this weekend. Then you'll hear some true wailing and moaning.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 10:33 | 4097441 shovelhead

"Oi mate, grab yer wellies an we'll go to the pub."

British Weather Crisis Management.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 11:07 | 4097562 mccoyspace

".....Berkshire, Essex, Surrey Hampshire and Sussex....."

ah, I always wondered what the 'home counties' referred to. now i know.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:28 | 4097224 YHC-FTSE

Traffic around West London is lighter than usual, a tree or two, some fences knocked down in every neighbourhood, but otherwise another normal, dreary, damp Autumn day.

Debated whether I should take a photo of a giant oak that fell into the car park of a nearby pub that looks quite dramatic to post online, but what's the point of adding to the hysteria to provoke faux-sincerity from bored housewives around the world and their, "Hopes and prayers" ? I'd rather vomit in my own mouth, and obviously others will have already done it to create a little excitement in their mundane lives. It's just a spot of bad weather. Deal with it, move on.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 11:25 | 4097619 walküre

Never let a crisis go to waste! Forward! Post those pictures! 1800 Fuck Yo!

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 12:55 | 4098058 TBT or not TBT

Hell, at this point go ahead and post some stock photos from random disasters.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:28 | 4097229 Racer

I was expecting dreadful winds last night, the Severn bridges were closed, trains shut down, warnings everywhere, but the wind wasn't that bad and certainly no worse than several windy nights in the past.

A lot of leaves fell though

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:38 | 4097269 jovius

What a bunch of arse.

It's been a bit windy and London is complaining about it, they get the media time because that's where the money is. I'm surprised Zerohedge has even bothered with this. Superstorm it most certainly isn't.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:38 | 4097270 jovius

What a bunch of arse.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:38 | 4097271 jovius

What a bunch of arse.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:41 | 4097279 ShrNfr

And of course, they are getting tons of energy from their "green power", right? Talk about putting yourself in a situation where failure occurs at the worst possible time, but hey Pwince (up)Chuck wants to save the planet.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 10:42 | 4097472 Racer

Wind turbine blown over by the wind

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-24691465

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 13:17 | 4098131 Emergency Ward

That's what I call a headline!

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:41 | 4097285 Trimmed Hedge

220K lost power? Big deal

Get back to us when it hits the millions...

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 10:22 | 4097409 huggy_in_london

well given relative populations thats like 1.2m in the US

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 11:36 | 4097662 monad

220k lost power? I thought they were all conquered already. Release the hounds!

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:42 | 4097293 Ribeye

Superstorm????? meh,

It's a calm sunny day in Dublin, i'm about to stroll down to the pub for a few pints, i doubt ill encounter any flying oak trees,

media hype,

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:53 | 4097326 firstdivision

US Nov PMI will be a 6 sigma beat!

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 09:56 | 4097332 bombdog

Massive media hype. The BBC has a hardon for weather reporting, it's about all they are good for these days. A few incidents but not even close to Superstorm Sandy.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 10:03 | 4097356 Ribeye

true, but it's hard to stay mad at all those MILFS,

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 10:40 | 4097468 deerhunter

Ribeye, Love the SN. Favorite cut of meat of all time. Tender but flavorful. Enjoy your pints. We called weather like that an autumn storm when I was a kid. God, I was a kid at one point in time. Back to TEOTWAWKI. Have to watch out for wind now too I guess. Good day to all.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 10:42 | 4097471 Max Cynical

I recommend taking some time to watch American Blackout on National Geographic that aired last night...very well done and realistic.

A friend that's a San Diego Police Officer was witness to this kind of barbaric behavior when the power went out in September 2011 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Southwest_blackout). As he told me at the time..."three more days of this would have been mayhem."

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 11:09 | 4097566 22winmag