In Britain at least five people have died in wild weather that has provoked travel chaos at one of the busiest times of the year..

Hundreds of travellers have been stranded by flight cancellations and power cuts to airports.

Gatwick, south of London, was one of the most badly affected, but the situation was made worse by planned rail engineering works, meaning no trains to and from the airport.

Some passengers waited all day, then found out their delayed flights had been cancelled.

Val Kelly is hoping to catch a plane, eventually.

“There’s no flights, there’s nowhere to go. Nobody’s telling us anything.”

The chaos has been caused by heavy rain and high winds. Across the south of the country, roads have been cut and low-lying land has been flooded.

Motorists were stranded when rivers burst their banks. Some cars have just been abandoned.

In Brittany, north west France, it was a similar situation.

Due to the heavy rain, rivers here burst their banks, flooding towns and villages. 17 French Departments are on alert.

Over one hundred thousand households are currently without power after trees fell on power lines.

It is estimated three days will be needed to get everyone back on, so for some it will be Christmas by candlelight.

In the north-western Spanish province of Galicia, high winds took down road signs, damaged property and caused power cuts.

Across Spain 44 regions are on alert.

In Bilbao in the Basque Country flights were cancelled due to high winds.