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Heavy snowfall, cold hits life across Europe
The Cuba News.Net
Monday 6th February, 2012
LONDON - Heavy snowfall and intense cold this winter, one of the most severe in decades, has taken its toll across Europe, with many rural areas badly affected and several deaths reported.
More than 30 villages in Aniene Valley, near Rome in Italy, were snowed over, and left minus power when an electric pylon collapsed under the weight of snow.
People were marooned in their homes with mountains of snow outside and many said they could not venture to their farms to feed their livestock.
In Romania, authorities reported ten deaths over the weekend due to the severe cold. A total of 34 deaths have been reported since the cold snap began in January.
Many major roads remained blocked in Romania and several villages and towns were cut off. Hundreds of people sought refuge in temporary shelters and many were hospitalized due to hypothermia.
The authorities involved more than 3,000 people in rescue operations.
In Ukraine, 122 deaths were reported due to intense cold in the past week, the most from any country, and 1,500 people were hospitalized. Poland, Serbia and Belarus also reported much suffering in the cold.
In Britain, the cold weather badly hit flight operations in Heathrow airport, one of the busiest in the world.
Covered with more than 6cm snow, Heathrow cancelled half its flights on Sunday, inconveniencing 18,000 passengers.
There were scenes of chaos as the cancellations were announced and many passengers were forced to sleep on the terminal floors.
The airport said in clarification that its snow plan had worked "far better" than in previous years. It also said it was operating a normal flight schedule on Monday.
A spokeswoman said: "We are expecting everything to operate as our normal schedule. There may be some cancellations and reshuffling as a result of yesterday's disruption."
Heathrow warned Monday that there could be some cancellations and advised passengers to check the status of their flights before traveling. British Airways, which cancelled more than 150 flights from Heathrow Sunday, in a statement on its website said it would operate "as normal a schedule as possible," Monday.
The icy spell this year has seen daytime temperatures plummet four or five degrees lower than usual.
The Met Office has issued nine severe weather alerts, and warned that ice could be a hazard on roads and pavements across the UK.
The Met Office issued yellow alerts, or urging people to "be aware", and also warned of "risk of disruption to travel" on Monday.
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