Alps avalanche latest: At least 12 killed as heavy snow and high winds pummel Europe

Hundreds trapped as winter weather causes flight delays and raises risks of more deadly avalanches

A skier walks past snow-covered trees after heavy snowfall Flachau, Austria (Reuters)

At least 12 people have been killed as deadly winter weather continues to pummel Europe.

Hundreds have been trapped in Alpine regions by heavy snow and high winds as conditions cause flight delays and increase the risk of more deadly avalanches in the mountains.

Attempts to find the bodies of four skiers in Norway were put on hold again due to poor visibility and heavy snowfall.

A 29-year-old Swedish woman and three Finns, aged 29, 32 and 36, were presumed dead after a 990ft wide avalanche hit a valley near the northern city of Tromso last week.

In Austria hundreds of residents were stuck in their homes due to blocked roads, and some regions experienced power outages after snow-laden trees took down power lines.

Schools in some regions remained closed for a second day and homeowners were advised to remove snow from their roofs after several buildings collapsed.

A 78-year-old man was severely injured when he fell off the roof of his home in Turrach while shovelling snow, Austrian public broadcaster ORF reported.

On Monday night 11 German hikers had to be rescued by mountaineers from a cabin near Salzburg after getting snowed in without electricity and with little food since Friday.

A skier walks past snow-covered trees after heavy snowfall in Flachau, Austria (Reuters)

Other people have also been killed by avalanches in Switzerland, Austria and Germany, and authorities warned continuing snowfall is increasing the already high risk of more avalanches.

In southern and eastern Germany people were bracing for more snow, while in the northern coastal city of Hamburg residents were preparing for a storm flood caused by a winter gale, the German news agency dpa reported.

Authorities warn the avalanche risk remains high in the northern Alps (Reuters) (REUTERSREUTERS/Emmanuel Foudrot)

In the Netherlands, Amsterdam’s busy Schiphol airport warned of delays and cancellations on Tuesday. Dutch carrier KLM cancelled 159 flights to and from European destinations.

Low-lying northwestern coastal regions were being hit by strong winds and wild seas, and local water authorities were checking dikes to make sure they were not damaged.

The Noorderzijlvest water authority said it was monitoring dikes because of debris floating in the sea after 281 shipping containers tumbled off a cargo ship in a storm last week. Many of the containers are still at sea and some have broken open, spilling their contents.

“A fridge or container that is rammed against a dike can cause damage,” the authority said.

Workers clear snow near Holzkirchen, Bavaria, after heavy snowfall over the weekend (EPA)

Heavy snowfall and strong winds were reported on Tuesday over central Scandinavia, hampering efforts to restore electricity that went down after a major storm swept through northern Europe on 2 January.

In Greece, schools in Athens and many surrounding areas remained closed after snow blanketed the capital, and temperatures in some parts of the Mediterranean nation plunged well below freezing. Some rural mountain roads were closed.

Dozens of refugees housed in tents in a camp in northern Greece protested about living conditions as temperatures sunk to minus 20C in some areas.

Additional reporting by Associated Press