A man was crushed by a snowplow and a skier was killed by an avalanche.

Heavy snowfall killed two people in Austria on Friday, also causing power outages and transport disruptions, with sections of highways closed and traffic temporarily suspended at Vienna airport.

"A 53-year-old man was crushed" by a snowplow that fell down the stairs "of a residential complex" in Linz, Austrian police said in a statement.

A German skier was swept away by an avalanche and lost his life in Tyrol, according to the APA news agency, which cites local police.

Up to 40 centimeters of snow have fallen since Thursday in Austria, a country largely situated in the Alps. The national meteorological agency GeoSphere has placed the southeast, around the city of Graz, under an orange alert.

"The avalanche danger remains a concern in all mountain ranges over the next few days and will largely be high," she wrote on her website. Numerous snowslides have already been observed.

Air traffic to and from Vienna, which was suspended all morning, resumed around midday. The outer ring road of the capital (A21) was closed for several hours, and "other sections of the motorway had to be temporarily closed due to snowdrifts, immobilized trucks, and reduced visibility," explained the ÖAMTC motorists' association on its website.

Power outages have been reported in several regions of southern and eastern Austria, including Styria, where 30,000 households are affected, according to local operators. 40,000 households have also been impacted in neighboring Slovenia, which, according to local media, is also experiencing significant disruptions in the northeast.