At least four people were killed in Europe by 24 hours of summer thunderstorms and torrential rain, police said Saturday as the clean-up of fallen trees and flood damage continued, dpa reported. A German weather forecasting company, Meteomedia, said its equipment recorded 104,000 lightning bolts in the space of six hours in Germany, the most since the private company had begun its records. The storms swept through the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland starting Friday afternoon, with fierce winds ripping slates off roofs and toppling power poles. In the hills of eastern Germany, winds reached 191 kilometres per hour while the deluge was rated at up to 76 litres of rain per square metre in little less than two hours in some places, Meteomedia said. In recent days, storms have also done major damage in France, Poland and Britain. A tornado hit a suburb of Birmingham on Friday. The storms are the outcome of summer heat and high humidity. -- SP 2329 Local Time 2029 GMT
