Villages cut off as heavy snow causes chaos in northern Spain

Many villages in the north of Spain have been cut off from the outside world after heavy snows blanketed the region, news reports and officials said Thursday.
In the regions of Cantabria and Castile and Leon, 300 people had to be dug out of their snow-bound vehicles Thursday by a special military unit.
There was snow on the Sierra de la Tramuntana mountains of Mallorca, where authorities said they had closed off four main roads.
On the neighboring Balearic island of Minorca and the Costa Brava coast on the north-east of the Spanish mainland, a storm caused waves up to 8 meters high to crash into the coast.
The national meteorological service issued its highest level warning for the area, predicting winds of up to 110 kilometers per hour.
In the Pyrenees, several international routes connecting Spain and France were closed because of the snow, and some rail services had to be suspended, dpa reported.