News agencies are reporting that at least one person has been killed and 25 injured as a storm with gale-force winds rages through Moscow and surrounding regions.
State-run TASS news agency on April 21 quoted emergency services officials as saying most of the injured were in the capital, hit by "falling trees and unsteady or poorly fixed structures."
TASS reported that Russia's Hydrometeorological Center issued a "status orange" warning for Moscow overnight leading into April 22.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Twitter that a 12-year-old girl had been killed.
"The girl, who was in extremely difficult condition, could not be saved by the doctors. I express my deep condolences to her parents," he wrote.
He added that "there will again be an increase in wind. Be careful. Do not let the children out of the house."
Officials reported that train service was disrupted and flights had been canceled due to the weather.
Early on April 22, an official with the Emergency Situations Ministry said some 900 towns and cities in the central Russian regions of Vladimir, Ivanovo, Tver, Smolensk, Ryazan, Moscow, and Tula had lost power due to the strong winds.
"The, power supply to about 900 settlements with about 73,000 residents has been disrupted," the ministry said.
About 48 settlements in the Moscow region were affected, although power had been restored to "all socially important facilities," officials said.
