Woman killed as violent winds hit Belgium

A motorist was killed today after a tree crushed her car in Belgium, the first fatality from strong winds blowing through countries bordering the North Sea, local media said.
The fatal accident occurred around 1030 on a forest road in Grez-Doiceau, a suburban village about 35 kilometres south of Brussels, according to Belgian media.
Benelux countries faced falling trees, flying roof tiles and collapsed electric cables, with firefighters called out to hundreds of emergencies since late Wednesday, when gusts of wind began to exceed 100 kilometres an hour.
The suburban region of Walloon Brabant, where the fatality took place, had alone logged about 60 emergency calls overnight, according to the local daily L'Avenir.

In the Netherlands, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport cancelled all flights on Thursday morning due to extremely high winds. The country was partially paralysed, with trains, trams and boats docked, which caused many problems on the roads.