Property and business interruption

7.3, snowstorms, fatalities

Heavy snow and high winds lashed Europe over two days causing the deaths of at least 17 people in weather related accidents and avalanches in Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland. Thousands of people in France and Germany spent a night trapped in their cars, trains or emergency shelters after heavy snow blanketed the Alps. Authorities were forced to close stretches of motorways, leaving hundreds of cars stranded through the night.