Storm death toll rises to seven in Spain

Rescuers found five bodies in the Pyrenees, raising to seven the death toll from a storm that has wreaked havoc in much of Spain for more than a week, authorities said Monday.

Rescuers found five bodies in the Pyrenees, raising to seven the death toll from a storm that has wreaked havoc in much of Spain for more than a week, authorities said Monday.

And authorities are still looking for the body of an Oxford University rower who presumably drowned after his nine-man boat was swamped Friday while training during fierce wind in the Ebro River of northeast Spain.

A ski instructor testing trails in the Port Aine resort in Lerida was trapped by an avalanche and found dead on Sunday. Further north in Gerona province, two hikers died after spending the night outdoors, the Civil Protection Agency in Catalonia said.

And in Huesca province, a man missing since Friday on Mount Garmo Negro was found dead, also Sunday, in another avalanche.

Rescuers are also looking for two groups of skiers and hikers totaling eight people in another part of Gerona. One body was found Monday afternoon, officials said.

The National Weather Service said five northern regions remained on alert Monday because of the storm, which has whipped much of Spain with wind, torrential rain and heavy snowfall in some areas.

Winds were forecast to gust at up to 70 mph in the Galicia region of Spain's northwest corner.

On Sunday a woman died in Madrid when a gust a wind sent a piece of scaffolding crashing down on her.