ST. PETERSBURG, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Storm St. Jude on Tuesday reached Russia after wreaking havoc in other nations of northern Europe in the past two days and continued to disrupt local transport, energy and communications in three northwestern Russian regions, said sources from local weather service department.
Authorities in Pskov, one of the three regions being affected by the storm, declared a state of emergency as thousands of people were left without power. The other two regions were Novgorod and Leningrad.
Also, some 30,000 residents in the region of Leningrad remained without power. In St. Petersburg, a city in Russia's northern part and surrounded by Leningrad, local authorities have made good preparations for preventing potential floods, while several radio stations in the city had their signals cut off by the storm.
High winds were expected to continue in the Leningrad region well into Wednesday as storm St. Jude continues its destructive path, according to the local weather service department sources.
Russian authorities have yet to announce a toll of casualties in the storm, which is reported to have caused 15 deaths in other countries of Europe.
