At the other extreme, nearly 400 firefighters on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica were battling blazes fanned by Eleanor's strong gusts of wind, with three people injured in a fire overnight. Three hundred goats were killed in the blaze at Chiatra-Canale di Verde near the island's east coast and 10 homes burnt - five of them completely destroyed, local authorities said.
The prefecture added that the intensity of the blazes was "exceptional in the middle of winter." Troops from the local airbase have been deployed to help fight the flames. Eleanor, the fourth winter storm to hit Europe since December, swept into the continent on Wednesday after battering Britain and Ireland. It has left at least four people dead, including a 21-year-old skiier hit by a falling tree in France and a couple in their 60s swept away on Spain's northern Basque coast by a huge wave. On Thursday, firefighters said a woman in her 90s died of a heart attack in Crets-en-Belledonne in the French Alps after floods sent a torrent of mud and water into her home.
In the Netherlands, Eleanor has dealt about 10 million euros ($12 million) of damage to buildings and cars, the Dutch insurers' union estimated, cited by public television. The whole of Spain's northern coast remained on "orange" alert - the second highest on a four-point scale - because of the risk from strong winds and large waves.
More than 40 towns in southwestern Spain have meanwhile brought forward their annual Epiphany feast parades - celebrating the coming of the three wise men with gifts for Jesus - to Thursday because of heavy rain forecast Friday. The worst of the storm appeared to have passed by Thursday, though much of eastern France was still on "orange" alert for heavy winds, floods and avalanches.
"The intensity of the rain and melting snow bring a risk of floods via overflowing streams and mudslides," warned forecaster Cecile Coleou.