Emergency workers stand around a car that was destroyed by a traffic sign blown over by heavy winds, in Timisoara, Romania, during a violent storm on Sept. 17, 2017. The impact killed the driver.
A strong storm killed eight people and injured at least 67 in western Romania as winds of up to 100km/h also brought destruction to parts of Serbia and Croatia, officials said.
Road and rail traffic in parts of Romania was halted by fallen trees.
Several hospitals, schools and apartment buildings had roofs damaged and dozens of towns and villages were left without electricity.
Some of the casualties were people strolling outside or coming out of supermarkets, the emergency services said.
A group of tourists was stranded for an hour in a chairlift in the northern county of Maramures.
In Serbia, a man went missing on his boat on the Danube river near Belgrade and six people, including a five-year-old child, were injured by falling trees.
Arcing from power lines, caused by the high winds, triggered several wildfires.
Comment: 3 people were also killed by lightning strikes in the same Indian state 2 days earlier.
Deaths due to lightning were also reported on the 18th of September in Nepal where a woman was hit while 2 men were struck in Bangladesh.