Published: May 30,2017
At least 11 people have been killed after strong thunderstorms and high winds buffeted Moscow and surrounding areas on Monday.
"Winds gusted as high as 70 mph during the storm, which is rare for Moscow," said weather.com meteorologist Brian Donegan. "Some hail was also reported along with torrential rain."
Russian officials told the Associated Press that most of the fatalities were caused by falling trees. According to the Guardian, 13 people have died as a result of the storms.
“Due to storm winds hitting Moscow, 50 people have asked for medical attention up to now,” a spokesperson for the City Hall’s health department told AFP, the Guardian reports. “Eleven were fatally injured.”
Two more deaths were reported when the investigative committee of the Moscow region said an 11-year-old girl and a 57-year-old man were killed, one by a falling tree and the other by a flying fence, the Guardian says.
Russian television stations showed metal fences, garages and even a construction crane toppled by winds around the capital, where about 3,500 trees were destroyed, the AP reports. The gusts damaged dozens of cars and disrupted train service and electricity supplies in some areas. Flights at Moscow's airports were delayed. A top emergency official said that 60,000 people in Russia's Stavropol region are being evacuated due to the threat of flooding.
The Moscow mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, expressed condolences for those who died, the Guardian reported. “Several hundred trees were felled,” he wrote on his official Twitter. “We are taking necessary measures to deal with the consequences.”
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