Heavy storms kill seven in Poland

Heavy storms kill seven in Poland Page last updated at 10:17 GMT, Friday, 24 July 2009 11:17 UK Heavy storms have killed at least seven people in Poland, uprooted trees in many areas and toppled power lines. The TVN24 news channel said central and south-western areas of Poland had been worst hit by the overnight storms, which also injured dozens of people. The Czech Republic and a wide swathe of Germany also suffered from falling trees and local flooding. The storms disrupted road and rail traffic in many areas. Thousands were left without electricity in Poland. Seventeen people suffered electrical burns when a power line came down in Krotoszyn, western Poland, the AFP news agency reports. Fallen trees were a hazard in many storm-hit areas of Poland A spokesman for Poland's state fire service, Capt Jacek Lep, told the BBC that 12,216 firefighters were now tackling the aftermath of the storms. There were three deaths in the central Lodzkie province, as two people were crushed by trees and one person was electrocuted, Polish television reported. The victims included a 24-year-old pregnant woman who died after her car was crushed by a tree. Three people died and nearly 50 were injured in the southern province of Lower Silesia. Two were crushed by falling trees while the third drowned. The central Wielkopolskie district reported one person crushed to death by a tree. Thirty-six others were injured. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8166617.stm