Winter storm slams UK and France as cold snap spreads across Europe

LONDON – Thousands of homes and businesses across northern France and southern England were without power Friday morning and residents faced widespread travel delays after a storm swept in off the Atlantic, bringing high winds, rain and snow to the region.

The low-pressure system, named Storm Goretti, pummeled the Isles of Scilly overnight, with wind gusts up to 99 mph (159 kph) recorded in the archipelago off the southwestern tip of England. Local government officials reported blocked roads, unstable buildings and power outages that left some people without water.

More than 57,000 were without power across southwestern England, the Midlands and Wales, according to National Grid, which runs the country’s electricity transmission network.

As the storm moved across the United Kingdom, it collided with an existing mass of Arctic air, bringing snow to northern areas and heavy rain to the south.

That extended the misery in northern Scotland, where snowplows have been working overtime to keep roads open after more than a half-meter (around 20 inches) of snow fell earlier in the week. More than 250 schools across Scotland were closed on Friday, with some remaining shut for a fifth straight day.

National Rail warned people across the U.K. to check before traveling, because the storm had disrupted services across England, Scotland and Wales. Birmingham Airport, which closed briefly because of snow, said that it had reopened with “reduced runway operations.”

The disruptions came after the Met Office, Britain’s national weather service, issued a rare red weather warning — its highest — in southwestern England for Thursday evening.

Red warnings are issued when the forecaster considers it “very likely” that there will be life-threatening conditions.

High wind gust in France

Strong winds from Storm Goretti also battered northwestern France on Friday.

No major damage was reported, but some 320,000 homes were still without power at midday, down from 380,000 earlier, national power grid operator Enedis said. Most of the outages were concentrated in the Normandy region.

France’s national weather service, Météo-France, had issued weather warnings before the storm, urging residents to remain home. An overnight wind gust of up to 213 kph (132 mph) was recorded in Gatteville-le-Phare in Normandy.

Regional train services were suspended across northwestern France, with disruptions expected to last at least until Friday afternoon. High-speed rail services were operating, and authorities said they anticipated minimal impact on flights at Paris airports.

Central and Eastern Europe

A cold spell was still gripping the broader continent on Friday, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, where temperatures in some places dropped to double-digit negatives at night.

Heavy snowfall on Friday morning that hit Prague and western parts of the Czech Republic caused traffic disruptions in the capital and elsewhere. Some flights have been delayed, and others were canceled, at Prague Vaclav Havel Airport.

The major D5 highway that leads from Prague to Germany was blocked by trucks at two places near the German border for hours while public transportation in the Czech capital came to a standstill in some parts of the city.

In neighboring Germany, rail operator Deutsche Bahn halted its long-distance rail service for the north of the country stranding thousands of travelers. Many roads and rail connections elsewhere in the country were also affected by high winds and heavy snowfall. Public bus transportation was canceled in many regions and schools stayed shut in some areas.

Two people died in a head-on collision between two cars in Bavaria, when one of the cars skidded, presumably because of the winter weather. In the Upper Palatinate region, a driver was killed when his car veered off the road and crashed into a tree, German news agency dpa reported.

Ferry services on the North Sea coast of Lower Saxony have largely come to a standstill, as several islands became inaccessible by boat because of strong easterly winds, including Langeoog, Spiekeroog, Norderney, and Wangerooge, dpa reported.

Leipzig’s soccer game at Hamburg’s St. Pauli in the German Bundesliga on Saturday was called off because of heavy snow, with other games in doubt. Despite efforts over several days to clear the snow, difficulties removing it from the roof of the stadium were a particular concern, St. Pauli said.

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Karel Janicek in Prague, and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, contributed to this report.