Winter storm batters Europe

LONDON: A powerful winter storm battered Europe on Friday, killing one woman and leaving 330,000 homes without power in France as flights and train services were cancelled and coastal areas put on flood alert.

Britain issued nearly a dozen severe flood warnings, meaning there was a risk of severe flooding and danger to life, and urged thousands of people to evacuate their homes in several seaside communities.

The storm, officially named Egon, also battered Belgium and Germany, where the key international hub of Frankfurt airport cancelled 120 flights, according to German media.

Eurostar cancelled two trains between London and Paris, while 180 passengers were forced to spend a chilly night on a high-speed Thalys train from Brussels to the French capital that finally arrived 10 hours late.

“We stopped on the tracks at around 9pm,” said Eduardo Soteras, a passenger on the train.

“At first we had electricity, but then it cut. We found ourselves in the dark without heating.”

In France, a woman was killed by a falling tree in her garden in a village near the Mediterranean resort of Nice, while another woman in Albania was found dead on Thursday outside her home in the southern town of Saranda.

“She died in front of her children. Her husband immediately tried to help by cutting the tree but it was too late,” a French police official said of the death there.

The rose window of a famous Gothic cathedral in Soissons in northern France was also badly damaged.

Winds of up to 146 km an hour hit France’s Channel port of Dieppe overnight, while parts of Germany were bracing for up to 30 centimetres of snow on Friday, according to German weather officials.

Since the end of last week, a winter cold snap across Europe has killed more than 60 people, with homeless people and migrants stranded in countries like Greece and Serbia most at risk.

“Severe winter weather struck southeastern Europe, with extreme cold and snow in Italy, the Balkans and Turkey. This caused many accidents on roads, school closures, cancelled flights and hardship for the homeless and refugees,” the UN weather agency said.

The World Meteorological Organization said in a statement that the high-pressure weather system was “moving slowly eastwards over Europe”.

Flood warnings were put in place for much of England’s east coast, while in the Netherlands pumps were used to lower water levels in Amsterdam and surrounding areas, according to Dutch news agency ANP.

Thousands of residents in Skegness in eastern England were urged to leave their homes or move to upper floors, while further south villagers in Jaywick were also warned to evacuate ahead of high tide.  Temporary shelters were set up for local residents, but some appeared reluctant to leave.