"The cyclone is one of the strongest that has hit Europe", say meteorologists.
Storm 'Ciaran', which has been flooding cities in France and Italy for two days, has already arrived in Albania.
The storm has caused 12 victims. Five people lost their lives during the night, while another is missing in the Tuscany region, hit hardest by the devastating wave. The floods forced thousands of residents to evacuate, as the water covered the first floors of buildings, has also paralyzed road and rail transport in many parts of Tuscany, where so far 40 thousand subscribers are without electricity.
2 victims were recorded in the north of France, where electricity was cut off in 1.2 million homes. Uprooted trees claimed the lives of a 5-year-old Ukrainian boy and a 64-year-old woman in Belgium. There were victims in the Netherlands, Spain and Germany.
The record for the strength of this unusual storm was recorded in France, where winds reached a speed of 207 kilometers per hour.
Authorities called on citizens to avoid leaving their homes as much as possible. Strong winds and heavy rain led to the suspension and postponement of many flights at European airports and in Great Britain.
Meteorologists have raised concerns that it is breaking records due to prolonged and intense rain and say it portends more severe weather to come.
Storm Ciaran is an extra-tropical cyclone (in other words, a rotating storm that forms outside the tropics) and unusual among North Atlantic storms, which rarely produce heavy rain and strong winds over large areas.
Experts say that considering that this cyclone has arrived earlier in the storm season, the trees are still leafy and the soil has been affected by the recent moisture, therefore it is expected that this storm will endanger the countries more.
Since the amount of rain that falls in a very short time is at an almost record level, meteorologists have called it a bomb cyclone.