Moscow hit by deadliest storm in more than 100 years, killing at least 12

Winds reached speeds of up to 112kmph as it toppled over trees, bus shelters and other infrastructure in the Russian capital. Photo/AP

A 20-year-old student was "sliced to death" by a falling tree as a freak storm ripped through Moscow, killing 12 people and injuring 100.

The force of the winds was so strong that it pulled off part of the roof of the Kremlin Senate, an 18th-century building housing Vladimir Putin's top officials, according to the Daily Mail.

"Due to hurricane winds in the northeast, southwest and east of Moscow, trees fell on pedestrians," said the city's investigative committee, equivalent of the FBI.

People "died on the spot" in winds of up to 112km/h, and 18,000 have been left without electricity.

Muscovite Daria Antonova, 20, was killed on Parkobaya St when a huge tree crashed onto her in the storm.

Witnesses said the tree was uprooted by wind.

A man who battled to rescue Antonova said: 'I heard loud crack and then a woman's scream.

"I rushed towards the site and saw one of the girls crying in horror - her friend was sliced to death by tree trunk.

"Me and five other men tried to lift it but even as we were doing it it was clear the poor girl was gone.

"The second girl was in the state of deepest shock.

"Her shoulders were badly bruised, but she didn't feel it because of shock.

"We helped her into an ambulance."

Another 20-year-old girl on roller skates was killed at a park in northern Moscow when a poplar tree crashed onto her.

A 10-year-old boy was badly wounded at the same site.

A man at Varshavskoye highway said: "It was an apocalypse. People were literally flying around, so strong was the wind."

A roof over a delivery ward in Moscow region's Shakhovsky district maternity hospital was ripped off.

A 20 year old girl on roller skates is known to have died at a park in northern Moscow when a poplar tree crashed onto her. Photo/AP

Three rooms housing mothers and babies were flooded.

Emergency services evacuated women and babies.

Nikolay Terentyev, 65, was killed by a bus stop that collapsed on him at Kirovogradskaya St.

Witnesses tried to lift him free but he had died on the spot.

Nina Andreyeva, 62, was also killed by a tree.

A witness said: "I was driving out of my yard when I saw a woman lying under the tree.

"She had been severely wounded and it was clear from how she looked that she was dead. I called the ambulance, they came to confirm that the lady died from injuries."

Roads were blocked by hundreds of uprooted trees, delaying the emergency services reaching the wounded.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said more than 40 people had to seek medical help after the storm, expressing condolences for those who died.

Later it was reported more than 100 people were injured.

"Several hundred trees were felled," Sobyanin wrote on his official Twitter. "We are taking necessary measures to deal with the consequences."

A father and his 16-year-old daughter were hit by a huge tree branch as they visited the graves of relatives.

Both survived but were badly injured.