Brace yourselves, the worst of the gales strike today

The first casualty was claimed when a crane operator was killed in Silesia as the wind smashed the 25-meter structure in half. The winds are a part of a weather system that has generated violent storms which have swept across Northern Europe on Thursday. Hurricane-force winds of up to 190 km/h battered England, Germany and France, claiming at least 10 casualties. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A1) R.M.