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Heavy snowfalls brought chaos to parts of Germany, Austria and Sweden on Friday, leaving roads blocked, trains halted, and schools shut, BBC reported.

The Red Cross helped drivers stuck on a motorway in the southern German state of Bavaria and a nine-year-old boy was killed by a falling tree.

The front of a Swiss hotel was hit by an avalanche and a winter storm made roads impassable in Sweden and Norway. Austrian rescuers had to battle through chest-deep snow to reach a snowboarder.

The series of storms have killed at least 21 people over the past week in eastern and northern Europe, according to the Associated Press; avalanches were to blame for many of those deaths.

About 600 residents and tourists were cut off in villages in the Styria region of Austria over the weekend when roadways became impassable. Other villages in the Alps have also been cut off by snow-blocked roads.

Travel in the region has been crippled by the heavy snowfall, with numerous train connections halted and hundreds of flights canceled.