Blizzards

London Heathrow airport has cut about 10% of incoming and outgoing flights with the 20 biggest carriers on Tuesday as the tail-end of hurricane Conzalo slammed into Britain.

Heathrow said the cancellations were precautionary and were prompted by the need to increase spacing between aircraft landing and taking off as winds of up to 112 km/h were expected to sweep the runways.

Heavy rain caused flooding and traffic congestion in several parts of northern Athens on Monday, while the fire department received dozens of calls to pump water out of basements and move fallen trees.

Heavy rain and storms were expected to hit parts of western Greece on Thursday, according to the Hellenic National Meteorological Service.

The agency noted that rain and storms were initially expected in the northern Ionian Sea and Epirus, before spreading to western parts of Central Greece and northwestern Peloponnese.

Several Balkan countries were bracing for highly unseasonal storms and flooding on Wednesday, which will be bad news for agriculture and local tourist industries already suffering from a drop in numbers.