Winds have felled more than two dozen of trees in Moscow and a lamp post has been downed amid an increasingly blustery storm that is expected to intensify throughout Monday, news reports said.
Gusts of wind are expected to reach up to 14-19 meters per second during the day, and City Hall has put utility services on high alert to clean up any trees or billboards that might fall on yards, children playgrounds or roads, spokesman Igor Pergamenshchik was cited as saying by Interfax.
At least 26 trees were downed in strong winds on Sunday, an unidentified official with Moscow's emergency services told the RIA Novosti news agency. Tram services were meanwhile suspended on at least four routes in southern Moscow after a falling tree damaged a power line, TASS reported.
Winds also toppled a lamp post onto nearby cars in the south of the capital, while the facing was ripped from a residential high-rise in the southeastern outskirts of Moscow, raining chunks of plaster on to several parked cars below, news reports said. No injuries have yet been reported.
The strong winds are expected to remain through Tuesday, when rain is also predicted to fall on the capital, TASS cited the regional weather bureau as saying.
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