Post-tropical Katia hits Ireland, Britain

Remnants of Hurricane Katia, now a post-tropical storm, slammed into the British Isles Monday with heavy rains and winds as high as 80 mph, forecasters said. The worst effects of the storm were felt in Ireland, Scotland and Northern England, The Guardian reported. The storm claimed at least one life, a driver killed by a falling tree in County Durham in the north of England. Forecasters said stormy weather was expected to continue Tuesday with the winds easing off. The storm effectively shut down Ireland's Atlantic coast, The Irish Independent said. Fishing boats remained in harbor in Galway, and thousands of people in the region lost power, with the most severe outage in Donegal in the northwest. Capt. Brian Sheridan, the harbormaster in Galway, described the situation there as "pretty severe." Ferry service across the Irish Sea was canceled. Many roads in Ireland were shut down by downed trees. Thousands of homes and businesses lost electricity in northern England. Sean Kelly, a manager for Bako Northern, said a group of industrial units under construction in Langley Moor, Durham, were brought down by the wind "as if it had been subject to a controlled explosion." The second stage of the Tour of Britain, which was to have included the seafront in Blackpool, a resort on the Irish Sea, was canceled. Riders instead did an exhibition run in an inland area to give fans who had come to Cumbria "something to see."