AFP - Heavy snowfall in south-central France Sunday snarled transportation and cut power for tens of thousands of people, with some also losing their telephone service.
   
About 100,000 households were without electricity in the largely hilly region, local authorities and the regional power company ERDF said.
   
Snow that began falling around midnight had been expected to continue until Sunday afternoon at least, with accumulations ranging from 15-60 centimetres (six-24 inches).
   
More than a quarter, or 20,000 of the 74,000 inhabitants of the Lozere region were without power, ERDF said, with some homes there and in nearby Aveyron also without telephone service.
   
The company announced it had dispatched staff and equipment to restore power in affected areas, but adverse weather hampered their efforts.
   
School transport has been cancelled for Monday in Lozere and local officials in the areas affected have generally urged residents to stay in and avoid driving in some places blanketed by particularly deep snowfalls and with warnings of ice elsewhere.
   
Meanwhile, heavy winds shuttered a ski lift in the Isere region, with rescue workers evacuating some of the skiers.
   
Traffic was also temporarily barred on several highways.
   
Heavy snow in the elevated Massif Central region cut train service between Beziers and Clermont-Ferrand, while a tree downed by heavy winds in the Bouches-du-Rhone region shut down train traffic on the Marseille-Toulon line.
   
But traffic on the Marseille-Cannes line resumed in the afternoon, after stopping earlier in the day.
   
Weather services have warned of strong rains and wind gusts in the Alpes-Maritimes and Var departments further south.
   
A total of nine French departments are on weather alert.