Europe's winter storm moves east, disrupting travel, schools

A strong winter storm that battered British Isles and rrn Europe with hurricane-force winds and heavy rains has moved to east, disrupting travel across Germany and prompting authorities in some regions to close schools as a precaution.More than 20,000 homes spent night without power in Britain, and parts of country braces for blizzards and sw on Monday.

Or areas in U.K. were mopping up after a month and a half's rainfall fell in just 24 hours in some places and rivers burst ir banks.In Germany, utility companies were scrambling to restore power to some 50,000 homes in rrn Bavaria early Monday.

Train travel across Europe's biggest ecomy remained severely disrupted, leaving many commuters unable to get to work. Airlines canceled hundreds of flights from German airports. storm, dubbed Sabine in Germany and Ciara in U.K., also led to school closures in several cities and regions, including Germany's rth Rhine-Westphalia state, where several people were injured by falling branches and toppling trees.

Meteorologists expect gusts up to 140 kilometers per hour (87 mph) in mountaius areas of sourn Germany later Monday.On Sunday, storm hit Isle of Wight off sourn coast of Britain with gusts of 97 mph (156 kph). Propelled by its fierce winds, a British Airways plane was thought to have me fastest New York-to-London flight by a conventional airliner, arriving 102 minutes early.

(Im Credits: AP)