Hurricane-Strength Winds Batter France
A woman was crushed by a tree and a man was decapitated, Friday, December 17, 2004, when hurricane-strength winds battered Paris and other parts of France, cutting power to hundreds of thousands of homes and causing major disruption to air, rail, and road traffic. Gusts of up to 130 km (80 miles) per hour lashed the northern half of the country. The main Paris airports of Charles de Gaulle and Orly were also hit, prompting delays of an hour for around 50 flights and some cancellations.