Snow, flooding in Austria destroy homes, cuts off villages

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BERLIN (AP) — Several schools are closed across Austria as parts of the Alpine country deal with masses of snow, the threat of avalanches and flooding by swelling rivers and lakes.

Austrian news agency APA reported Monday that a mudslide in Bad Gastein, south of Salzburg, destroyed two homes overnight, burying two women. Firefighters rescued one of them quickly, the other one only after several hours. Both were injured and taken to the hospital.

In Gurktal, in the Carinthia region, some 70 firefighters had to evacuate the residents of 15 buildings because of the swelling Gurk river.

Elsewhere in southern Austria, several villages were cut off because of heavy snowfall. Schools stayed closed and helicopters scouted the nearby mountains for possible avalanches.