MOSCOW, May 29. /TASS/. The death toll after Monday afternoon’s violent thunderstorms that hammered Moscow has left at least 11 people dead and 50 injured, a spokesman for the capital’s health department told TASS.
He said ten hospitals are providing medical aid to those injured.
Meanwhile, the Russian Investigative Committee said eight people, including an 11-year old girl, had been killed by falling trees in Moscow and its neighborhoods.
"The investigators are examining the sites of the accidents and questioning eye-witnesses," said Svetlana Petrenko, the committee’s official spokesman.
The thunderstorm blew down more than 1,000 trees in its path, damaging numerous vehicles and roofs, the Emergencies Ministry said.
The storm also caused delays of commuter trains and grounded dozens of flights at Moscow’s airports.
The storm wreaked havoc as it tore through Moscow, leaving a 44-meter pyramid built by engineer Alexander Golod in 1999, some 20 kilometers to the west of the capital, completely in ruins.
Roman Vilfand, the head of the Russian Hydrometeorological Center, told TASS that the wind force in Moscow had reached 28 meters per second during the peak of the thunderstorm.
He warned that a new storm could strike Moscow on Monday evening and even at night.