PARIS: Winter storm Eleanor swept across Europe on Wednesday, causing widespread damage and disruptions that have snarled transport and cut power to tens of thousands of people.

A 21-year-old skier was killed by a falling tree at Morillon in the French Alps while 15 people have been injured by the storm across the country, four of them seriously, civil defence spokesman Michael Bernier said.

Another person was hurt by a falling tree in the southern Dutch village of Heesch.

Heavy winds forced authorities to close the airports in Strasbourg and Basel-Mulhouse on France’s border with Germany and Switzerland before they were reopened shortly after midday.

At Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport, where gusts of up to 134 kilometres per hour were recorded, 60 per cent of departures were delayed on Wednesday morning, as were a third of arrivals. A handful of flights had to be rerouted before the winds eased back slightly.

The winds were also wreaking havoc with train services and motorway access in several French regions, the result of fallen trees, cable lines and other objects.

About 225,000 homes across France were without electricity, while “particularly intense” flooding was expected on the Atlantic coasts.

‘Woken people up’

Eleanor barrelled into continental Europe after whipping across England, Northern Ireland and Ireland, with the Thames Barrier, one of the largest movable flood barriers in the world, closed as a precautionary measure to protect London from swelling tides.

“We have seen some heavy showers push through across the south of the UK along with hail, loud thunder and lightning, which has woken people up,” said meteorologist Becky Mitchell.

Gusts of 160kph were recorded at Great Dun Fell in Westmorland, northwest England, while overturned vehicles and trees caused closures of major motorways.

In Ireland, power supply company ESB said electricity had been restored to 123,000 customers, while 27,000 remained without power.

Streets around the docks in Galway on the west coast were flooded after high tides breached the sea defences, prompting the deployment of about two dozen troops to support flood defence efforts.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2018