(Bloomberg) -- Finland’s coastal waters were hit by hurricane-force winds for the first time, as more extreme weather batters Europe.
Storm Lyly brought an average wind speed of 33.5 meters per second on Friday to Kylmapihlaja, off the coast from the city of Rauma, according to Finland’s Meteorological Institute. That exceeded the definition of a hurricane-force wind, set at an average of 33 meters per second over 10 minutes.
Gale-force winds across a wider area of the Nordic country’s west coast felled trees and left about 67,000 people without electricity. Two poles supporting a 400-kilovolt power line in Eurajoki collapsed, local media reported. A vessel under construction at a shipyard in Rauma broke loose, though the damage was reduced by weather warnings that allowed additional ropes and a tug to be deployed.
The storm was accompanied by 20 centimeters (8 inches) of snow in southern parts of the country.
The extreme weather came after devastating floods hit Spain last week, killing more than 200 people after a storm dumped a year’s worth of rainfall in less than 24 hours.
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