The Latest: People stuck in cable cars at Swiss ski resort

The Latest: People stuck in cable cars at Swiss ski resort


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LONDON (AP) — The Latest on the storm battering Europe (all times local):

3:25 p.m.

Swiss police say several people are stuck after high winds caused cable cars to stop running in the skiing resort of Pizol.

St. Gallen police say in a statement that several rescue teams are trying to get the people out and haul away several trees that crashed into the cables.

Police say it is not clear how many people are stuck inside the cabins of the cable cars and whether any are injured. Because of the gusty winds, helicopters cannot be used in the operation.

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2:20 p.m.

Several people have been injured after a train derailed in Switzerland amid gusty winds.

Rene Mueller, who heads the small town of Lenk, south of Bern, was quoted by local media as saying that the train went off the tracks Wednesday because of the storm. Further details were not immediately available.

Switzerland has been hit hard by a winter storm heading across western Europe leading to power outages, blocked roads and flooding across the Alpine country.

Several flights to Zurich and Basel airports were cancelled and many ski lifts in vacation resorts stopped their service because of the storm.

In neighboring Austria, a ski jumping practice in Innsbruck was cancelled due to the strong winds, snowfall and fog.

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2 p.m.

France's interior ministry says that a skier has died in the Alps after being hit by a tree during a violent windstorm.

Fifteen other people were injured across France, including four in a "serious condition," the ministry said Wednesday.

The skier, who has not been named, died in the resort of Morillon in Haute-Savoie.

Emergency services have made 4,300 incidents amid some of the worst winds to hit France in years.

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12:20 p.m.

The storm battering many parts of western Europe has led to power outages in Switzerland, canceled flights at Zurich and Basel, and toppled a truck on a Swiss highway.

Local media reported that at least 11 flights were canceled while several others were rerouted to other airports.

Thousands of households at Lake Zurich were left without power because of the storm and firefighters received repeated calls to help with toppled trees blocking streets and flooding due to heavy rains.

Online news site 20Minuten reported that a truck was toppled over on a highway near Emmen.

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12:15 p.m.

France's interior ministry says nine people have been injured in a violent wind storm pummeling the country.

Four people are said to be in serious condition following accidents caused by the winds that reached speeds above 100 mph (160 kph) on Wednesday.

In the Paris region a falling tree hit a car and seriously injured one person, while another resident was seriously hurt falling from a building.

In the Eure-et-Loir, a motorcyclist hit a tree that had been uprooted and fell into the road. In the east, a woman was seriously injured after an object hit her in the head.

First responders have made 3,250 interventions related to some of the worst winds to hit France in years.

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10:40 a.m.

Zoos have been closed, roads flooded and a train has derailed as a winter storm batters large parts of Germany.

The German news agency dpa reported Wednesday that a train derailed near Luenen in western Germany when it crashed against a tree that had fallen on the tracks. No injuries were reported.

Highways near Duisburg and Juelich in the west were also partially blocked because of toppled trees and flooding.

The zoos in Munich and Augsburg in Bavaria closed for the day and the railway leading up on Germany's tallest mountain, the Zugspitze, was also shut down because of the bad weather.

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10:15 a.m.

A severe storm packing winds of up to 100 miles per hour has battered Britain and Ireland overnight.

The storm, which included heavy rain, hail and lightning left tens of thousands of households in Ireland and Britain without power, and also led to some bridge and road closures.

Extremely high tides also caused the partial collapse of a harbor wall in Cornwall in southwestern Britain.

Overturned vehicles forced officials to close portions of three major highways in England.

The country's main weather forecaster, the Met Office, says gusts reached 100 mph in Cumbria 280 miles (450 kilometers) northwest of London early Wednesday morning when the storm reached its peak.

Forecasters said gusts of up to 80 mph are possible Wednesday.

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10 a.m.

France's national electricity provider says a violent windstorm has left some 200,000 households without electricity across the country, including 30,000 in the Paris region.

The windstorm battered northern France Wednesday with winds reaching over 90 mph. Photos of destroyed cars, collapsed scaffolding and uprooted trees have appeared across social media.

Some 2,000 agents have been deployed to reconnect the energy supplies in the 49 French departments that have been placed on high alert.

Strong winds also battered Paris' biggest airport Charles de Gaulle. Paris' airport authority said that flights have been disrupted with slight delays stemming from precautions being taken to safely get travelers into aircraft.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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