Storm Goretti Left Behind Incredible Wind Damage In UK, France. Other Places Snowed Under

A huge tree toppled by Storm Goretti crushed
this car in England. The storm caused havoc from
England and France to Germany. 

Last week, I said here in this blog thingy that one of the most powerful storms in years if not decades - Storm Goretti - was about to pummel Europe.

Well, it did, and here are some of the result.s 

As of Saturday, at least 13 Europeans had been reported killed the the storm. 

Cornwall, on the southwestern tip of England and northwestern France were especially hard it. 

In northwestern France, winds gusted as high as 134 mph, according to France24.com. A 121 mph gust hit France's Cotentin peninsula. A weather station in Cornwall recorded a 123 mph wind gust. 

 As previously reported, winds reached 99 mph on the Isles of Scilly At least 170,000 properties in the UK and 320,000 in northwestern France lost power in the storm. 

The Cornwall Council called Goretti  "one of the most severe storms Cornwall has experienced in living memory."  Cornish MP Andrew George has asked for a national emergency response for the region because of a lack of power and water, now roofless homes and blocked roads. 

At least one house in Cornwall lost its roof.  Parts of the roof of the main grandstand of the Cornish Pirates rugby team stadium were blown off amid gusts to 90 mph. 

Many homeowners said the wind was so strong it blew out windows in their homes. Countless trees are down through Cornwall. 

In Guernsey, another roof flew off a building and some of the debris hit a man in the face. He was treated at local hospital and is expected to recover. 

Several shipping containers fell off two ships in the stormy seas near Isle of Wight. 

In other areas, snow joined the party as storm Goretti ripped through. Parts of Scotland had up to 20 inches of snow. Additional snow was falling on Scotland Sunday. 

The snow has been falling daily in Scotland since January 1. Schools have repeated closed there daily since then. Aberdeen has had the worst conditions in 15 years. 

 The snow that was falling in Scotland Sunday was forecast to turn to rain and continue all week. That rain and snowmelt has raised the risk of flooding. 

 Elsewhere in Europe, areas along the North Sea in Germany and in the southwestern part of the country were warned to expect hurricane force winds.  Other areas of Germany were hit by windswept snow, which disrupted travel and pretty much everything else. A Volkswagen factory that employs 8,000 people in Emden, in northeast Germany shut down Friday because of the storm.  

I don't know whether climate change had much to do with this storm or not. But the storm was consistent with a warming world. Storms have in general been getting stronger. Yes, Goretti was a cold storm. But warm winds feeding in from the south helped give it the power it had. 

The warmer air in a climate changed world adds fuel to the fire, so to speak. Storms get stronger as a result. Goretti might have been an example of that.