Archives

The death toll from avalanches, snowstorms, floods and freezing cold that swept Europe at the weekend rose to at least 21 on Sunday.

Avalanches killed two mountain climbers in Italy's Vezza d'Oglio and Aosta valley and injured six others on Sunday, a day after the bodies of two Czech mountaineers, were found in an avalanche in central Slovakia's Tatras mountains.

In Germany, the authorities said a total of seven people had died since Friday in storm-related car accidents and floods, including a four-year-old boy who fell into a swollen river.

The Moscow rescue services said on Saturday 12 more people had frozen to death in the Russian capital, bringing this winter's death toll there to 227.

France and Switzerland issued avalanche warnings in the Alps at the weekend, saying the combination of fresh snow, warmer temperatures and fierce winds posed a fatal risk to skiers.

On Sunday, an avalanche in the French Alps buried two cross-country skiers, injuring one seriously.

Travellers in France encountered serious delays throughout the weekend after a rare snowstorm hit the north of the country on Saturday.

The authorities banned all lorries from circulating in the east of the country from 7pm (1800 GMT) on Sunday until 7am on Monday, causing further clogging in motorway rest areas.

Heavy goods vehicles were ordered into the rest areas on Saturday night because of the dangers of the icy roads and had expected to be allowed to continue their journeys on Sunday.

School buses in the Seine et Marne department, east of Paris, were officially told not to venture out on Monday and parents in the area south of the capital were told not to send their children to classes on Monday.

Passengers at Paris' two main airports, Charles de Gaulle and Orly, were held up for hours over the weekend, while drivers returning home from New Year holidays struggled to negotiate a maze of closed highways, accidents and black ice.

Some 15,000 motorists spent most of Saturday night stuck on a motorway southwest of Paris, where rescue workers distribute drinks and snacks to sustain them through the ordeal. In eastern France, 600 people abandoned their cars and spent the night in accommodation centres.

Germany and Belgium, which battled countrywide floods earlier in the week, were also hit by snowstorms on Saturday night.

Up to 20 centimetres (eight inches) of snow fell on southern Belgium, northeast Germany and the ski slopes of the Bavarian Alps, which had lain bare for much of early winter.

Snow and ice slowed road traffic throughout Bavaria, southern Germany. The official death toll from weather accidents rose to seven on Sunday. Five people, including two teenage boys, died in storm-related car accidents between Friday and Sunday, while a woman and a four-year-old boy drowned.

Around 43,000 firefighters have been mobilised since Friday to deal with floods in Germany, which have injured more than 20 people.

On Sunday, the southern town of Wertheim remained under water and the eastern cities of Dresden and Halle were on alert.

Neighbouring Belgium was also hit by heavy snowfall on Saturday night, causing traffic havoc in the south of the country.

In Lithuania, bitter temperatures as low as minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus four Fahrenheit) initially kept many from voting in the second round of the presidential election on Sunday, although turnout picked up later in the day.

The Moscow rescue services said on Saturday 12 more people had frozen to death in the Russian captial, bringing the winter death toll there to 227.

Since the New Year alone, 335 more people have been hospitalised in Moscow with frostbite or hypothermia.

Poland said on Friday 183 people had died during their bitterly cold winter, most of them men who died of hypothermia after drinking heavily and falling asleep outside.

Northern Portugal, northern Italy and the Czech Republic also endured storms early in the weekend but had clearer, colder skies on Sunday.

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager