STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Fierce storms left more than 250,000 homes and businesses across northern Europe without power Monday as crews from Russia to Ireland began cleaning up the wreckage. At least 16 people died in the weekend storms.
The storms also hampered Norway's oil production for a fourth day Monday by delaying repairs at three offshore fields that account for about 11 percent of the nation's output. Norway is the world's third-largest oil exporter, and the shutdowns are costing 345,000 barrels per day of crude flows.
In southern Sweden, seven people were reported killed in the storm, including four motorists. Another man was killed when bales of hay stacked at his farm overturned, crushing him, police said Monday.
In Denmark, four people were killed by flying debris or falling trees, police said. Residents in western Denmark were piling sandbags to keep floodwaters out of their homes.
Three people were killed Saturday in northwest England. Schools were closed in the town of Carlisle and thousands of residents waited to return to their homes, swamped after the River Eden burst its banks. Officials warned Monday of more heavy rain.
Two others, in Yorkshire and in Scotland, were missing and feared swept away by swollen rivers.
In the north German state of Schleswig-Holstein (search), high winds forced the shutdown of train and ferry links, and highway bridges. Two 20-year-old men whose kayak capsized on a lake near the town of Landwedel were missing and presumed dead.
"There's no more hope for the two youths, in our view," police spokesman Dirk Voss said Monday in Rendsburg.
In Ireland, several rivers burst their banks and flooded roads. About 150,000 homes lost electricity over the weekend, but most had power restored by Monday. In western Galway, winds blew off the roof of one school.
A flood warning was in place along the country's major river, the Shannon, with a risk of flooding forecast for Tuesday.
In Sweden, power was slowly being restored to some 219,000 homes. In Denmark, 12,500 homes were dark in eastern Denmark.
Across the Baltic Sea (search), nearly 40 percent of Latvia and thousands more in neighboring Estonia and Lithuania were still without power or heat Monday.
The weekend storm, which meteorologists say was among the worst to hit the region in 40 years, brought hurricane-strength winds of 90 mph that ripped roofs from homes and wrought widespread property damage along the coast. Insurers put preliminary damage estimates at tens of millions of dollars.
Estonian Prime Minister Juhan Parts (search) visited coastal Parnu, 75 miles south of the capital, Tallinn, on Monday, the hardest hit in Estonia, to assess the damage there.
In Latvia, firefighters and soldiers worked through the night to clear fallen trees from roads. Schools were ordered closed through Wednesday until power was restored.
In Finland, sea levels reached record highs, cutting off several highways, but no major damage was reported.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox