Storm Ciara batters north-western Europe
Northern Europe is hunkering down in the hope that Storm Ciara, with her hurricane-force winds, will blow over soon.
Planes shook mid-air as they prepared to land in Zurich airport on Monday and heavy rain and wind has forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights across the continent.
In the Netherlands, around 240 flights to and from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport - one of Europe's busiest, were cancelled as Ciara roared in off the Atlantic with gusts of up to 74 mph (120 kph).
In Germany, where Ciara has been named Storm Sabine, around 180 flights to and from Frankfurt airport - that's roughly 15% of all planned flights - were axed on Sunday.
More than 200 flood warnings have been issued across the UK and London's eight royal parks, home to more than 170,000 trees, were closed.
On Monday, large parts of northern France were placed on an orange weather alert - the second highest warning - with thousands of homes in Brittany left without power.
The storm also helped a British Airways flight beat the transatlantic flight record as its accelerated journey from New York to London touched down 80 minutes ahead of schedule.
A band of cyclists taking part in the Dutch Headwind Cycling Championships braved the conditions, but ultimately the winds became too strong even for this punishing competition and the race was closed after 250 of the 300 riders had reached the finish line.
