LONDON: A severe winter storm caused major travel problems in parts of western Europe on Tuesday, stranding passengers travelling for Christmas at Paris and London airports and leaving tens of thousands of homes without power.

In Spain, extremely strong winds battered the northwestern Galicia region, and a tree that fell down on rail tracks prompted the derailment of a commuter train. None of the 10 passengers or the crew members were injured.

Wind speeds hit 185kph in some coastal areas of Galicia, and the region’s fishing fleet stayed in port. As many as 88,000 homes lost electrical power, and crews were trying to restore it.

Meanwhile, more than 370,000 homes and businesses were still without power on Tuesday morning in parts of central and northeastern US after a weekend ice and snowstorm rolled across the region.

More than 7,000 flights were behind schedule by Monday night, many of those in New York, Washington and Chicago as people struggled to travel before Christmas.

In Canada, police said two people in Ontario are dead from carbon monoxide poisoning after using a gas generator to heat their blacked-out home northeast of Toronto.

Agencies

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