Heavy winds led the airports in Strasbourg and Basel-Mulhouse on France's border with Germany and Switzerland to close after gusts of more than 110 kilometers per hour were recorded

PARIS, France – Winter storm Eleanor swept into France, Belgium and the Netherlands on Wednesday, January 3, after tearing through England and Northern Ireland, cutting power to tens of thousands while forcing airports and train services to halt operations. More than a dozen others were injured by the storm across France, four seriously, civil defence spokesman Michael Bernier told AFP as the country was lashed by what meteorologists termed the strongest winds in eight years. At Lenk in central Switzerland, eight people were hurt when a violent gust of wind overturned a railway carriage while one person was injured by a falling tree in the southern Dutch village of Heesch. At Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport, 60 percent of departures were delayed Wednesday morning, as were a third of arrivals, while a handful of flights had to be rerouted before the winds eased back a bit. France's national electricity provider says it left some 200,000 households without electricity across the country, including 30,000 in the Paris region. The Eiffel Tower, which attracts six million visitors a year, was closed until at least Wednesday afternoon, while worries about falling tree branches prompted Paris officials to close all city parks for the day. Gusts of 160 kilometres per hour (100 mph) were recorded at Great Dun Fell in Westmorland, northwest England, while overturned vehicles and trees caused closures of major motorways. Image copyright AFP Image caption Waves pound the seafront in Auderville, Normandy

Belgium was put on "orange" alert, the third of four warning levels, with officials urging people to be cautious when going out because of tree branches and other flying objects. In the Netherlands, 252 of about 1,200 flights were cancelled at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, a main European hub, as weather alerts were issued for several regions. In Germany, zoos were closed, roads were flooded and a train derailed as the storm battered many regions. Flights were also disrupted at Frankfurt's airport in Germany, where the storm has been baptised Burglind, and at Zurich airport, as Swiss officials urged hikers to avoid forest walks. Switzerland has also been badly hit, with some 14,000 homes without power, and several injured after a train was blown off its tracks. The storm, which hit most of northern Europe after battering the UK, has also cut power to tens of thousands of homes and affected transport.
Winter storm Eleanor moves from the British Isles to continental Europe with one dead in France as well as injuries and material losses in Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland.