Winter mayhem
December 20, 2009
Roads in several European countries are gridlocked, many airports on Sunday are closed or have sharply cut services, while many trains have been cancelled or delayed.
In Poland, an estimated 19 people, mainly homeless people and late-night drunken stragglers, have frozen to death in the extreme weather. In the Czech Republic, two more homeless people died after exposure to the arctic-like temperatures, bringing to eight the number of people killed in that country due to the cold snap.
In Germany, a 46-year-old homeless man was reported to have frozen to death in the south-western city of Mannheim. Hundreds of car accidents were also reported around the country, including two separate incidents that claimed the lives of two women.
Temperatures in parts of Germany fell to below minus 33 degrees Celsius overnight, as parts of Western and Northern Europe from Portugal in the south to Poland in the east were hit by heavy snowfall.
In Eastern Europe, snow as deep as 2.5 meters has been reported, while temperatures in Mediterranean regions such as Spain dropped to around minus 20 degrees overnight.
Planes, trains, automobiles affected
Top football matches in Italy were postponed because of the conditions, while most flights from British, Belgian, Dutch, French and German airports were either cancelled or delayed.
German authorities said the country's third-busiest airport, in the western city of Dusseldorf, was closed Sunday due to "impossible" taking-off and landing conditions.
On Friday night, more than 2,000 passengers on Eurostar trains attempting to cross under the English Channel between England and France were stranded when their trains broke down under the extreme conditions. Authorities say the electrical systems on the Eurostar trains failed owing to condensation forming when they entered the relatively warm tunnel.
A French Member of European Parliament, Dominique Baudis, who was among those stranded for up to 16 hours, said he would call for the European Commission to investigate the incident.
Meanwhile, a ferocious snow storm has blanketed much of the eastern United States, cutting power to hundreds of thousands of homes, paralyzing air traffic and stranding motorists.
dfm/dpa/AFP
Editor: Wilhelmina Lyffyt