Fatal storm hits France and Spain
Rescue workers at the sports hall in Sant Boi de Llobregat
High winds battering northern Spain have brought down the roof of a sports hall near Barcelona, killing four children, local officials say.
Four other people died in other incidents in Spain as the fiercest storm in a decade battered northern Spain and the south-west of France.
Torrential rains and winds of up to 172km/h (107mph) are being reported.
At least one million homes in France are without electricity, road and rail links are blocked and airports closed.
The impacts of the storm have been felt from the Channel Isles to Barcelona, but the strongest winds and heaviest rain has been concentrated around south-west France.
Although this type of active low pressure system is fairly common in winter, BBC meteorologist Alex Deakin says, Saturday's storm is being described as the most damaging since the devastating storm of December 1999 that killed 88 people.
Children killed
The sports hall partially collapsed in the town of Sant Boi de Llobregat, Catalonia, with between 20 and 30 youngsters inside, officials said.
 Public roads workers clear away trees in Bordeaux |
At least 15 people were injured.
A woman was killed by a collapsing wall in the Barcelona area and in Burela, Galicia, a policeman was killed by a falling tree as he directed traffic.
Two men were killed elsewhere, one by a falling tree and one by a wall.
Residents in affected areas in both countries have been warned to stay indoors.
French weather agencies forecast the storm but it has affected a wider area than expected. A state of "red alert" has been declared in nine departments.
In France, the storm has caused havoc from the Dordogne area to the Pyrenees.
As it moved east, the torrential rains caused flooding in some areas prompting thousands of calls to the emergency services.
The force of the storm also led to the closure of airports in Bordeaux, Pau and Biarritz, and Toulouse.
Train services have also ground to a halt, leaving several hundred passengers stranded in stations overnight.
Blocked roads
The storms are expected to spread eastwards on Saturday bringing the risk of further heavy rain, strong winds and disruption, BBC weather experts said.
 Blocked roads are hampering efforts to repair damaged power lines |
Although expected to weaken over the next 12-18 hours, parts of southern France could still see some damage, with the storm's strong winds funnelling through the Rhone valley overnight.
Hundreds of technicians had been deployed to try to restore power to residents by the end of the day, but blocked roads are hampering their efforts.
"The number of clients who are cut off from the grid is rising from minute to minute as the storm moves eastwards," Michel Francony, head of the regional electricity grid operator ERDF, told local radio.
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