EU-DIGEST

8A storm raging through much of eastern Spain has claimed at least four lives and cut off power to hundreds of thousands. Alicante Airport was also temporarily shut, disrupting over 200 flights.

Read more at:
https://www.dw.com/en/spain-storm-gloria-kills-4-disrupts-travel/a-52081614

 Icy temperatures across Europe have left more than 20 people dead and blanketed even the Greek islands and southern Italy in snow.

Italy saw ferries and flights cancelled and schools in the south are expected to close on Monday.

Turkey has also been badly affected. The Bosphorus was closed to shipping as a heavy snowstorm hit Istanbul.

At least 10 people died of cold in Poland. Night temperatures in Russia plunged to minus 30C.

Normally milder Greece has witnessed temperatures of minus 15C in the north where an Afghan migrant died of cold last week and roads were closed.

Read more:n Deadly icy spell grips much of Europe, including Greek islands - BBC News

Snow and ice stranded thousands of drivers and caused at least one death in the French Alps Saturday night into Sunday. Thousands were left without power.

AFP reports that severe conditions struck as ski resort visitors were on the roads in southeastern France, leading officials to set up emergency shelters to accommodate the drivers.

One 27-year-old man died after his car "slid into a ravine in the Belledone mountain range."
Switzerland and Southwestern Germany were covered with snow with higher parts of Germany’s Black Forest receiving more than 8 inches
Read more: Europe Pummeled by Snow, Icy Weather; Thousands Of Drivers Stranded, One Killed in French Alps - weather.com

At noon today the Dutch meteorology agency KNMI has issued a Code Red weather warning for people living in the north of the Netherlands. The official meteorologists of the Netherlands issued their strong prediction for Friesland, Groningen, IJsselmeer, Noord Holland and the Wadden Sea area, saying that they expect the storm to start taking hold around noon today.

Some schools in the northern Netherlands closed early so children could get home safely to celebrate Sinterklaas -- the traditional Dutch version of Christmas -- with their families.

The Netherlands also closed water barriers to protect the low-lying country from high tides, including the Oosterscheldekering barrier in the southwestern delta region, which was closed for the first time since 2007.
Water authorities in the northern Dutch province of Friesland were patrolling dikes to make sure any breeches or damages from the high tides were quickly repaired. The dikes were built to withstand water levels 5 metres above normal.

Thursday's tide was predicted to be around 3.3 metres higher than normal, the authority said.

Transportation troubles, also spread throughout northwestern Europe. All flights to and from Copenhagen's international airport were halted late Thursday due to the storm, officials said. It was not immediately clear how many passengers were affected or how long the airport -- Scandinavia's largest -- would stay closed.

Almost all flights to and from Hamburg airport in northern Germany were also cancelled, and federal authorities in Germany issued a warning for residents of Hamburg to expect a "very severe tidal flood" at about 6:30 a.m. Friday local time. Residents were urged to evacuate low-lying areas of the port and along the Elbe River.

EU-Digest

Britain braced for severe flooding and the worst tidal surge in 60 years after a powerful storm with hurricane-force gusts hit the country Thursday and began moving across Europe.

Read more: Fierce Storm Lashes Europe; at Least 3 Dead - ABC News

Millions of Americans in the northeast who are planning to travel for the Thanksgiving holiday this Thursday may not only encounter busy airports and congested highways, but also a deadly storm system bringing heavy winds, rain, snow and sleet to some of the most populous metro areas in the US.

With the storm gathering pace, the 43 million people who are expected to travel 50 miles or more for Thanksgiving were warned to avoid driving during the worst conditions slated for Tuesday and Wednesday.
Those days fall ahead of the Thursday Thanksgiving holiday and are among the busiest days of the year for air travel.

A powerful storm that left at least 21 people dead over the weekend and has already created a mess for air travelers in the western US, especially in Texas, is now threatening to do the same at some of the busiest – and most delay-prone – US airports along the eastern seaboard, meteorologists said Monday.

It forced American Airlines to cancel nearly 1,000 flights at its Dallas/Fort Worth hub Sunday and Monday. AA hopes to resume normal operations there by Monday afternoon, but that could be just in time for new problems to sprout in the East.

The storm will bring heavy snow to interior sections of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, but the biggest problems for Thanksgiving fliers will likely be the windy, cloudy and rainy conditions at some the busiest US airports: Logan in Boston, JFK and La Guardia in New York, Newark International, Philadelphia International, Thurgood Marshall in Baltimore and Dulles and Reagan National in Washington.

Read more: Thanksgiving travel threatened by deadly storm in eastern US | euronews,

 A powerful weather system developing over the Atlantic could see Britain battered with some of the worst weather conditions since the Great Storm of 1987, forecasters are predicting.

The storm is expected to develop south west of Britain throughout today and reach the south coast of England on Sunday night and into Monday, bringing exceptionally strong winds.

The storm could develop winds hitting 12 on the Beaufort Scale. This is the strength of a hurricane.
With gusts of  up to 90mph and up to 30mm of rain forecast the RAC has warned motorists against all but essential travel in torrential rain and floods.

The public has also been warned to expect the possibility of power cuts, trees blocking roads and transport disruption.

Met Office spokesman Dan Williams said on Friday that forecasters had extended their amber warning for strong winds further north. London, East Anglia, Bristol and as far north as the Midlands are all now expected to be hit by heavy winds and rain.

Forecasters say it is now looking more likely than before that the storm - with wind speeds of 80mph or more - will cross the southern half of Britain, rather than passing south of the country - and a larger area than previously thought could be affected.

Read more: Worst weather since the Great Storm of 1987? UK braces for hurricane-strength winds - Home News - UK - The Independent