Thousands of homes and businesses across northern France and southern England were without power on Friday morning and many people faced widespread travel delays elsewhere in Europe after Storm Goretti swept in off the Atlantic, bringing high winds, rain and snow to the region.
In France, the storm system cut power to about 380,000 homes, most in northern Normandy, energy provider Enedis said.
Overnight, gusts of up to 216 kilometres per hour were registered in France's northwestern Manche region, according to authorities.
The winds felled trees, with at least one crashing onto residential buildings in France's Seine-Maritime region without causing injuries, authorities said.
Schools remained shut in parts of northern France, where weather alerts were issued in 30 other regions.
Giant waves crashed over harbour walls across France's far northwest overnight, and as the storm moved eastwards it brought flooding and forced the closure of roads and ports, including Dieppe.
Northern Germany faced severe disruption from heavy snow and high winds brought by Storm Elli, with schools ordered closed in Hamburg and Bremen and long-distance rail services cancelled.
Flights were cancelled or postponed at Hamburg airport while several main roads were paralysed, including some hundreds of kilometres to the south in the Frankfurt region.
The German weather service warned of "hurricane-force" winds in areas along the North Sea and in the southwest, and up to 15 centimetres of snow in parts of the country on Friday.
Leipzig's German Bundesliga football match against St Pauli on Saturday has been called off due to heavy snow, with other games in doubt.
St Pauli, from Hamburg in northern Germany, said it had "done everything possible to ensure the game could be held safely" but that was not possible.
Despite several days of clearing efforts, difficulties removing snow from the stadium roof were a particular concern, St Pauli said.
The club added that it had been advised that calling off the game could ease the burden on emergency services, the transport network and the healthcare system.
Floodwaters receding
Some 600 schools were closed in Moldova until next Monday and around 1,000 homes were without electricity in Romania.
Floodwaters were meanwhile receding in parts of the Balkans on Friday after heavy snowfall and torrential downpours earlier in the week triggered hundreds of evacuations across several countries and killed at least two people.
In Albania, one of the hardest-hit in the region, Prime Minister Edi Rama said authorities were beginning to count the cost of flooding after hundreds of homes were inundated primarily in the south.
But weather warnings for icy conditions and snowfall remained in effect across most of the region, including Serbia, where parts of the west have been without power for days after a snowstorm knocked out power lines.
Rare red alert in place
The low-pressure system pummelled the Isles of Scilly overnight with wind gusts up to 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 snowploughs have been working overtime to keep roads open after more than half a metre 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 UK to check before travelling because the storm had disrupted services across England, Scotland and Wales.
Birmingham Airport, which closed briefly due to snow, said 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" there will be life-threatening conditions.
More than 10 people have died in weather-related accidents across Europe this week, with the latest deaths reported in Turkey, where local media said five people had been killed.
While two were killed in separate accidents involving dislodged roof tiles, a Syrian man died when a wall fell on him, a construction worker was swept into the Aegean Sea and a pensioner fell off a roof.
