Ski lift terror caught on video as Storm Eleanor hits Europe

Storm Eleanor has hit parts of northern Europe, causing widespread flooding and leaving four people dead.

In Austria, video footage emerged showing terrified skiers clinging on as they were thrown from side to side in a chairlift after gale-force winds swept in.

The footage, taken by Peter Cottens in the Silvretta Montafon ski resort, shows thick snowfall almost obscuring sight of the chairlift altogether, as resort staff climb up to try to help those trapped.

Four people have been confirmed dead after the storm first hit in France.

One of those killed was a 50-year-old farmer, who was found beneath a snow slide in the Alps; while a skier at the Morillon resport was killed by a falling tree.

Elsewhere, a 93-year-old woman was found dead at her home in the south-east of the country, after a nearby river burst its banks and flooded surrounding streets.

And a firefighter who rescued a family of three stranded atop their car amid flash flooding was then swept away by the rising waters.