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Northern Europe braces for gale-force winds and extensive floods_我的网站

A |     STOCKHOLM -- A ban on gasoline and diesel-fueled cars from a commercial district of Stockholm's downtown in 2025 will be the first for a European capital, a city official said Thursday.The ban will take effect in a 20-block area of shops, pedestrian walkways and a few homes in order to curb pollution, reduce noise and encourage use of electric vehicles said Lars Strömgren, the city council member for the Greens who's in charge of the Swedish capital's transportation. Many European capitals have restrictions on gasoline and diesel cars, but Strömgren says Stockholm’s complete ban would be a first. “We need to eliminate the harmful exhaust gases from (gasoline) and diesel cars. That’s why we are introducing the most ambitious low-emission zone to date,” Strömgren told The Associated Press. The idea is to create an "environmental zone” where only electric vehicles will be allowed. There will be some exceptions such as for emergency vehicles and transportation for the disabled.In its budget for 2024, the left-leaning, environmentally-focused city council on Tuesday unveiled the plan for the target area just north of the city’s famed Old Town. The municipal government controls a majority in the council, so the vote set for Nov. 23 is expected to be a formality. “We are pretty proud, I must say,” Strömgren said, adding that gradual expansion of the environmental zone would be decided in the first half of 2025.One of the city’s main cab companies, Taxi Stockholm, said its transition to emission-free vehicles is moving at a fast pace. The company’s acting chief executive Pernilla Samuelsson said it's emission-free vehicles now make up 30% of its fleet - almost seven times more than last year. “In other words, the transition is going fast and it is already being driven forward by the industry,” Samuelson said.Some aren't convinced things will go smoothly. Nike Örbrink from the opposition Christian Democrats told the Aftonbladet newspaper that some are concerned the plan would hurt businesses and the hotel industry.Other European capitals harbor similar ambitions. The Dutch capital, Amsterdam, is aiming for all transport in the city, including automobiles, to be emissions-free by 2030.The mayor of Paris wanted to ban all diesel cars before next year’s Olympics, and gasoline cars by 2030, but has run up against resistance.Currently, any diesel cars built before 2006 and gasoline cars built before 1997 are banned in Paris and 77 surrounding towns for 12 hours a day on weekdays. The ban will expand in 2025 for diesel cars built before 2011 and pre-2006 gasoline vehicles.___Jan Olsen reported from Copenhagen, Denmark. AP writers Mike Corder in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Angela Charlton in Paris, France contributed.。

B |     LONDON -- Hundreds of people were being evacuated from their homes and schools closed in parts of Scotland on Thursday, as much of northern Europe braced for stormy weather, heavy rain and gale-force winds from the east.The U.K.'s weather forecaster, the Met Office, issued a rare red alert — the highest level of weather warning — for parts of Scotland, predicting “exceptional rainfall” Thursday and Friday that is expected to cause extensive flooding and “danger to life from fast-flowing or deep floodwater.” The last red alert in the U.K. was issued in 2020.Forecasters say the storm, named Babet by U.K. officials, could bring more than a month’s worth of rain in the worst-affected regions in Scotland.Babet already brought flooding to several towns and villages in Ireland, with some areas remaining under water and without power Thursday. Soldiers helped with evacuation measures in the town of Midleton in County Cork, where more than 100 properties were flooded.In the town of Brechin, near Scotland's eastern coast, officials told residents of about 400 houses to evacuate to local rest centers. Local schools were closed and will remain shut on Friday.In Denmark, residents scrambled to place sandbags along exposed areas. In Assens on the central island of Funen, emergency services deployed huge rubber tubes in the harbor to counter rising water levels, broadcaster TV2 reported. Southern Denmark police urged people along the east coast to leave exposed areas if the weather predictions remain, saying cottages, harbors and other places could be flooded.TV2 reported that the region would likely see the worst flooding in 110 years, and the Danish Meteorological Institute said waves could reach 4 meters (13 feet) along east-facing coasts. The southeastern Danish town of Koege wrote on its Facebook page that emergency workers were busy filling sandbags and urged citizens to “avoid unnecessary baths, dishes, laundry and other water-intensive activities,” saying “the municipality’s treatment plant was at risk of being overloaded.”Police in the area warned that roads may be blocked, urged people to secure valuables and advised against sleeping on their boats in the harbors, saying that "if something happens, emergency services cannot get to them,” police spokesperson Brian Bang-Rasmussen said.Copenhagen's airport and the Danish national rail company warned of cancellations and delays Friday because of bad weather. Several ferry lines between Danish islands were suspended, as were ferries to Rostock in northern Germany and to Oslo.Swedish meteorologists also issued a warning for the south coast from Friday evening and Saturday. They said that the water level in southern parts of Sweden may reach its highest level since the 1990s.In Germany, authorities warned of high water in bays in Schleswig-Holstein, south of the Denmark border, until mid-Saturday.Authorities also warned of high water in the next two days on the Baltic Sea coast of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany’s northernmost state, with water levels of up to 2 meters (6.6 feet) above average possible in the inlet where the city of Flensburg is located. Some ferries to the North Sea islands of Foehr and Amrum were delayed or canceled, German news agency dpa reported.Norwegian meteorologists said a strong low-pressure area over Great Britain combined with high pressure over northern Scandinavia was creating strong east-northeasterly winds, with ”very strong gusts" expected to hit southern Norway from the east.___Olsen reported from Copenhagen, Denmark.___This story corrects that the town of Koege is in southeastern, not southwestern, Denmark.。

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