MOSCOW -- Sudden gales and heavy rain on Monday afternoon left at least 11 people dead and about 70 others injured in Moscow, the city mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

The injured are receiving medical treatment and families of the casualties will be financially compensated, said Sobyanin, adding that the storm caused so much damage because it rarely happened in the daytime.

The gales, with a speed of more than 80 kilometers per hour, knocked down several hundred trees and destroyed buildings in the Russian capital.

An electricity transmission line broke down in the storm, affecting 7,300 households. The bad weather also disrupted road, railway and air traffic.