One killed as remnants of Hurricane Katia batter parts of the UK

One killed as remnants of Hurricane Katia batter parts of the UK

2011-09-13 04:51:38 GMT+7 (ICT)

LONDON (BNO NEWS) -- One person was killed on Monday afternoon as parts of the United Kingdom were battered by the remnants of Hurricane Katia, officials and forecasters said. Damage and flooding was also reported.

Katia emerged in the far eastern Atlantic on August 29 and made its way north of the Caribbean before turning towards the north, staying well off the East Coast of the United States. It then rapidly crossed the Atlantic for a second time during the weekend as it lost tropical characteristics but remained near hurricane-strength as it approached Europe.

Forecasters in the United Kingdom had issued weather warnings for large parts of the region as post-tropical cyclone Katia passed close to the north of Scotland, causing strong winds and heavy rainfall throughout Monday.

"The maximum sustained winds we saw was about 60 miles (96 kilometers) per hour at Capel Curig in north Wales," said Met Office forecaster Dan Gray. "The strongest gust was at the same place and that was 82 miles (131 kilometers) per hour in Capel Curig, north Wales."

Gray said the most severe weather affected the region between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. local time on Monday, but stormy weather is forecast to continue into Tuesday. "The windiest weather will last until about midnight our time tonight," Gray said.

In northeast England, a driver was killed at around 3 p.m. local time when a tree fell on a minibus between Staindrop and Barnard Castle, near Dunhouse Quarry, in County Durham. A passenger in the vehicle was injured.

Elsewhere in County Durham, in the village of Langley Moor, fifteen cars sustained serious damage when strong winds collapsed a roof at a business premises. There were no reports of injuries.

"There have been a number of trees brought down, houses without power, we've seen very large waves, and a tidal surge on the west-northwest England and west Wales coastlines, which is producing some localized flooding in those areas," Gray said.

Katia was the eleventh named storm of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season and was a major category four hurricane at its peak. The name was added to this year's rotating storm roster to replace Katrina which killed more than 1,800 people in August 2005 when it made landfall near the Louisiana-Mississippi border in the United States.

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