Storms rip through Europe

* Fifty killed in France, three in Spain, two in Germany

* French coastal villages flooded, sea walls collapse

FRANCE: Storms swept through western Europe at the weekend, killing up to 50 people in France and threatening further damage as powerful winds and torrential rains moved north, officials said.

The storms ripped through cities, uprooting trees and street signs, wreaking havoc on rail networks and forcing hundreds of flights to be cancelled at airports like Paris and Frankfurt.

Three people were killed in Spain, two in Germnay and one in Portugal, but France was the worst hit as heavy rains, strong gusts of wind and high tides destroyed Atlantic coast sea walls, killing 25 people in the town of l’Aiguillon sur Mer alone, the mayor told French television.

“It is a natural catastrophe,” French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux told BFM TV, estimating the total death toll in France at between 45 and 50 and warning that high tides could cause further damage.

But centuries-old trees were also uprooted in the gardens of the Versailles palace near Paris, according to France Info radio.

Weather forecasters said the storm, named Xynthia, had moved up to northeast France and Belgium and would hit Denmark next.

Meteo France said the storms seemed less fierce than those that battered France in Dec. 1999, killing 92 people.

Paris,Monday, Reuters