Swiss town cut off by heavy snowfall

Swiss authorities have raised avalanche warnings in several regions to their highest levels.

And, just a week before the World Economic Forum's main annual meeting in Davos, train service to the glitzy ski town in eastern Switzerland has also ground to a halt, national rail service SBB said.

The head of the local government in the town of Disentis, Robert Cajacob, told AFP, that the town's population of 2,200 as well as "several hundred tourists" currently had no way out because of rail closures and impassable roads.

He said the situation was "stable" but "problematic."

The national weather office, MeteoSwiss, said that parts of the Alps had seen 60 to 90 centimetres (24 to 35 inches) of snow since Saturday night and that another 30 to 50 centimetres were expected in some parts of the northern Alps in the coming hours.

French authorities have also warned of a high risk of avalanches in the Haute-Savoie region that borders Switzerland, while avalanches in western Austria have killed at least three people in recent days.