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![Spanish officials confirmed three people were killed and 16 injured when the centre collapsed [Reuters]](http://mwcnews.net/images/stories/Spain/1/2/3/4/5/winds.jpg "Spanish officials confirmed three people were killed and 16 injured when the centre collapsed [Reuters]") | | Spanish officials confirmed three people were killed and 16 injured when the centre collapsed [Reuters] |
Three children have been killed after the roof of a sports centre collapsed during high winds in Sant Boi near Barcelona, Spain's Cadena Ser radio website said.
Saturday's accident occurred as high winds battered southwest France and northern Spain for a second day. About 30 children were in the building at the time, Cadena Ser said. Two people were seriously injured, it added, without saying whether the victims were children or adults. Authorities in the northeastern Spanish city confirmed three people were killed and said 16 were injured when a building next to a baseball court caved in. The Spanish fire service could not confirm that the dead were children.
In France, gales cut power supplies to more than one million homes and closed roads, railways and airports. Local authorities in the Landes region said one person was killed and one seriously injured when a tree fell on a car.
On Friday, a woman was killed in Barcelona when part of a wall fell on her, radio and newspapers reported. Police in the northern Spanish province of Galicia said a falling tree killed a policeman directing traffic. Michel Barnier, France's agriculture minister, said the storm was "the worst since 1999" and said his government would call on the European Union to help fund reconstruction efforts once the extent of the damage becomes clear.
Winds of up to 173km an hour on the coast and 160 km an hour inland paralysed southwest France.Meteo France, the French weather agency, placed the region under red alert and asked residents to stay indoors for their own safety.
"Stay at home and avoid any outdoor activity. If you must go out, use extreme caution," it said in a statement.
The road traffic agency issued a list of roads and bridges blocked by fallen trees or too dangerous to use. These included the Aquitaine suspension bridge across the Garonne river at Bordeaux and bridges to the offshore islands of Re and Oleron.
The airports at Bordeaux, Biarritz, Pau and Toulouse were closed, officials said.
Spanish authorities warned people to stay away from beaches and harbours as eight-metre waves pounded the coast. The northern province of Cantabria and the Catalonia region in the northeast remained on alert because of high winds.
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Tags: Gusty winds Spain
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