At least 12 people were killed in continental Europe yesterday as the second storm front in a week swept in from the Atlantic bringing vicious winds and torrential rain and leaving floods and mudslides in its wake.
In France, mudslides caused by heavy rain claimed two lives. A 52-year-old man was killed in Nice, southern France, and a mechanic was found dead in the town of Gap, south-west France.
In Montenegro, a family of six and a couple were killed in Montenegro when heavy rains dislodged rocks along a canyon road and brought them crashing down on their vehicles, police said late last night.
In Italy, at least two people were killed as stiff winds and driving rain battered much of the country, renewing fears of a recurrence of last month's flooding which killed at least 25 people.
The bloated Venetian lagoon sent water levels rising in the low-lying areas of Venice, snow fell above 800 metres in the Trentino region and rivers swelled throughout the north.
Strong winds forced the cancellation of at least 20 flights and others had to be re-rerouted. Landslides cut several railway lines, including one linking Italy with France, and a number of regions went on a state of alert.
The Lambro and Seveso rivers broke their banks in parts of Milan and streams overflowed in Tuscany. A handicapped 90-year-old man who lived in a basement died when water flooded his home and a 34-year-old man was killed in a landslide.
In north-west Italy, firefighters found an 81-year-old woman drowned in the basement of her home.
In the south, bad weather hampered coastguard attempts to tow to shore a ship carrying some 1,200 illegal migrants.
Elsewhere in Europe, roads were closed in Portugal, dozens of flights were cancelled in northern Spain and France.
Twenty-seven British crew members were plucked from three yachts in separate air and sea rescue operations in fierce wind and rain off the Spanish coast yesterday. In one of the rescues French and Spanish coastguards winched 18 sailors to safety after their stricken vessel, the Creightons Naturally, was swamped by 60ft waves.
In Portugal the port of Douro, at Porto in the north of the country, was forced to shut down. Roads were also closed, vehicles damaged by falling trees and homes flooded.
In the Swiss town of Lauberhorn, meteorologists measured wind-speeds of 256 k.p.m., the strongest gusts since 1990 and the second strongest ever recorded.
Tropical storm Rosa strengthened near Mexico's Pacific coast yesterday threatening to dump heavy rain on the country's south-western states, weather officials said.
The desert emirate of Dubai yesterday had its first significant rainfall in 19 months as a powerful storm lashed the northern Gulf coast, the meteorological office said.