France and Spain struggled to restore electricity to more than a million homes on Sunday after powerful gales swept across both countries on Saturday, leaving at least 15 people dead, including 4 children, according to The New York Times.
The French and Spanish governments called on their armies to help with recovery efforts after winds of more than 100 miles an hour tore down trees and power lines and whipped up huge waves that pummeled coastlines.
The storm killed 11 people in Spain, including 4 children who died when a sports center collapsed in Barcelona, and at least 4 people in France.
In Spain, 150,000 homes were still without power on Sunday in the northern regions of Galicia and Catalonia, officials said.
The authorities said the army was helping firefighters battle a forest fire in La Nucia, in the eastern coastal province of Alicante. The fire began when winds toppled an electricity transmission tower on Saturday. Thousands of people in the area were evacuated from their homes.
French officials said the gales were the worst since 1999, when a severe storm killed 88 people in France and left nearly four million people without electricity, Reuters reported.
Rail links between Spain and France remained suspended Sunday, though officials in both countries said some domestic rail service had been restored.
