Huge waves in the port of Wimereux, northern France. A severe storm front has battered the British Isles and Germany, causing havoc with shipping and leaving one man dead in England, with forecasters predicting worse weather to come.(AFP/Philippe Huguen)

Severe storms batter northwestern Europe

BERLIN (AFP) - A severe storm front has battered the British Isles and Germany, causing havoc with shipping and leaving one man dead in England, with forecasters predicting worse weather to come.

In the English Channel on Thursday, French and British helicopters began winching to safety the 26 crew who abandoned a sinking cargo ship off the coast of Cornwall.

No details of the crew's condition were immediately available but those who abandoned the London-registered ship were British, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Turkish, Indian and Filipino, a British coastguard spokeswoman told AFP.

The storms also forced the suspension of cross-Channel ferry services between the English port of Dover and France and caused chaos to road and rail transport in England.

A 54-year-old man was killed when a branch which had fallen from a tree smashed into his car windscreen early in the morning in the western English town of Bridgnorth, Shropshire.

He was identified as Richard Heard, the managing director of Birmingham Airport in central England, who had been driving to work.

In Germany, winds of 120 kilometres (75 miles) per hour were ripping through western and central regions as the storm moved eastwards.

Meteorologists said the storm was shaping up to be the worst to hit Germany in four or five years and authorities warned people only to go outside in exceptional circumstances.

The storm was causing heavy rain throughout Germany and the combination of that and high winds leds to flight cancellations at Frankfurt airport, Germany's busiest, a spokesman for its operators Fraport said.

At least 17 flights had been cancelled by 1000 GMT.

Authorities told Germans to stay indoors in the afternoon and not to park their cars under trees or near the sea because of the risk of severe flooding along the coast.

Winds could reach speeds of up to 150 kph (93 mph) near the sea and in mountain regions, the national weather bureau in Offenbach said.

The head of the German rescue services (THW), Albrecht Broemme, said tens of thousands of emergency workers were on standby.

"If this hits all of Germany, things could become pretty bad," he said.

Northern France was also being lashed by rain and winds gusting up to 140 kph (87 mph), creating perilous conditions for motorists and pedestrians, the national weather service said.

Meteorologists said France would feel the brunt of the storms in the afternoon and late evening.

In Paris -- where a man was killed last month when strong winds ripped a heavy billboard from a shopfront -- all parks, gardens and cemeteries were closed as a precaution until the end of the violent weather.

In Italy, meanwhile, 80 flights were cancelled early Thursday at Rome's main Fiumicino airport because of fog, the airport news agency Telenews reported.

Flights to or from Brussels, Casablanca, Paris, Nice, Munich, Florence, Venice and Amsterdam were among the 38 departing and 42 arriving flights cancelled, the report said.

Icicles created by drip irrigation hang from an orange tree in Orange Cove, California, on 17 January. Snow has fallen in normally balmy southern California, as Americans coped with a deadly nationwide cold snap that has left hundreds of thousands in the dark and caused billions in crop damage.(AFP/Getty Images/Justin Sullivan)

Snow in southern California as cold snap grips US

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Snow has fallen in normally balmy southern California, as Americans coped with a deadly nationwide cold snap that has left hundreds of thousands in the dark and caused billions in crop damage.

More than 60 deaths across nine states were blamed on the harsh weather, US media reported Thursday, mostly in car accidents as drivers lost control of their vehicles on icy roads.

A layer of snow on Wednesday blanketed hills in Malibu, a seaside town near Los Angeles popular with entertainment industry celebrities. The town is situated by the Pacific Ocean and is famous for its beaches and year-round sunshine.

Snow also fell on parts of metropolitan Los Angeles, with the upmarket neighborhood of Westwood receiving a dusting of flakes as the unseasonably low temperatures continued across California.

The six-day regional cold snap "took a surreal turn" with the snow, the Los Angeles Times said, adding that chilly temperatures were forecast for Thursday.

The weather even forced transport authorities to close portions of a major California highway that links Los Angeles to the state capital Sacramento. The stretch remained close early Thursday.

California's temperatures have plunged to near-record lows, prompting Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to declare a state of emergency.

The cold snap has devastated California's citrus fruit industry, with authorities forecasting losses of more than one billion dollars because of the damage to crops.

Unusually low temperatures hit most of the southwestern state of Texas, with up to 7.6 centimeters (three inches) of snow accumulating in Dallas, and ice and freezing rain forcing schools to close in San Antonio and Houston.

A quarter of all flights from the busy Dallas airport were canceled Wednesday due to the low temperatures, local media reported, with service expected to resume normally on Thursday.

Ice was the most dangerous regional culprit: accumulated snow and hail that melted during the day would freeze at night, creating treacherous roads.

Low temperatures are expected to remain for the next days, weather forecasters said.

Meanwhile some 300,000 people in the midwest and northeastern US were without power, including about 100,000 in Missouri and 92,000 in Oklahoma, CNN reported.

President George W. Bush declared an emergency in Oklahoma on Sunday and in Misouri on Monday, freeing up federal funding for recovery efforts.

Oklahoma state governor Brad Henry toured areas hit by the ice storm, The Oklahoman newspaper reported Thursday.

"It looks like a war zone," Henry told the newspaper. "It's hard to imagine ice could cause so much damage."

Recovery is expected to last for weeks or months, the newspaper reported.

Ice is expected to cause serious problems Thursday in South Carolina and as far south as Atlanta, forecasters said, with National Weather Service posting ice and freezing rain advisories across the region.

In the northwestern states of Oregon and Washington, thousands stayed home on Wednesday after a heavy snowfall a day earlier -- but forecasts Thursday called for snow and freezing rain.

Portland city crews worked around the clock plowing, sanding and de-icing streets, though most streets are expected to remain icy and snow-covered for days, the Portland Oregonian newspaper reported Thursday.