Denmark, southern Sweden and the British Isles bore the brunt of the conditions, with 100 people forced to spend the night on a ferry after it ran aground in southwest Scotland, while a Dutch freighter issued a mayday call off the Danish coast.

In northwestern England, meanwhile, the centre of the city of Carlisle was largely underwater, with locals sheltering on upper floors, watching cars float past in the street below.

Thousands of people were forced to abandon their homes in the city on Saturday evening, being rescued either by boat or by helicopter from the roof, local police said.

Four people were killed in Denmark -- two motorists who died when trees crashed onto their cars, and two others who were killed when a roof blew off a building, police said.

In southern Sweden, two motorists were also killed when trees fell on their cars, and a third died when a car hit him as he tried to remove a fallen tree from a road, media reported.

Copenhagen's Kastrup airport closed down for several hours, as did the Malmoe Sturup airport in southern Sweden, as hurricane force winds of up to 151 kilometers (94 miles) an hour lashed the region and authorities urged people to stay indoors if possible.

Danish sea rescue services reported that a Dutch freighter off Denmark's west coast had called for assistance after reporting a fire on board in heavy seas.

The 15 crew evacuated the ship and were in a lifeboat at 10:00 pmwaiting to be picked up by rescue ships.

In southern Sweden, around 280,000 households were without electricity, while rail services were suspended and traffic on the Oeresund bridge linking Copenhagen to southern Sweden was stopped, as well as dozens of ferry services.

In Germany's northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, which borders Denmark, train traffic was halted, while road traffic came to a standstill on the North and Baltic Sea coasts, on the bridge over the Kiel Canal linking the two seas, and on the one connecting the Baltic Sea island of Fehmarn to the continent.

In Ireland, more than 50,000 people were also without electricity -- around 20,000 in the Republic of Ireland and 30,000 in the North.

In Scotland, 43 passengers and 57 crew were spending Saturday night on board a P and O ferry which set off from Larne in Northern Ireland before running aground at Cairnryan, Loch Ryan.

No one was injured, but heavy seas meant tugs would not be able to get close to the European Highlander vessel to pull it free from the shingle beach until Sunday morning, P and O said.

Around the British Isles, trucks toppled over, river banks burst, people were evacuated from flooded houses and uprooted trees blocked dozens of roads.

Carlisle was worst affected, and while local police said the waters appeared to be receding late Saturday, officials warned that more wet weather was due on Sunday.

Around 1,000 homes in the city had been flooded, as well as a further 100 in other areas, a spokeswoman for Britain's Environment Agency said.

About a dozen trucks overturned on a motorway in Cumbria and several roads were blocked because of flooding and trees falling.

"At the moment, high-sided vehicles should not travel at all. Our advice to drivers of ordinary vehicles is to only travel if your journey is absolutely necessary," the police spokesman warned.

Elsewhere, the Netherlands was also hit by storms, with a German teenager injured as he was hang-gliding at Zeewolde, in the centre of the country.

In contrast, Prague was bathed on Saturday in an unseasonal temperature of 13.8 degrees Celsius (57 Fahrenheit) the warmest January weather ever recorded in 230 years of official records.