Nine people have been killed in severe storms in Spain, Portugal and France since Thursday, following the death of a fisherman in Catalonia who was swept away by large waves in the Mediterranean.
Due to the winds, the fisherman fell into the water from the rocks and was killed in Sant Felio de Guisols, a resort about 100 km from Barcelona, as it became known by the regional authorities of Catalonia. Another fisherman and three policemen fell into the sea to help him, but they did not succeed.
Two people have been killed in Portugal and seven in Spain, the country hardest hit.
The Catalan Emergency Service received 1.118 calls to intervene, as strong winds uprooted trees and caused serious problems on residential roofs. Among the victims in Spain was a car driver, whose vehicle was swept away by the swollen waters of a river in Huescar, Andalusia. The most famous of the parks of Madrid, the Retiro, however, reopened its gates today, as it remained closed from Thursday for precautionary reasons, in order to avoid accidents from falling trees and branches.
In France, Hurricane Fabian hit southwest coasts and Corsica, leaving more than 50.000 households without power this afternoon. Corsica has been cut off from the rest of France, as the other airports on the island were closed today, after the one in Ajaccio that flooded on Saturday. There are also no ferries, but the situation is expected to normalize by Monday, according to shipping company Corsica Linea.