Berlin [Germany], January 7: Snow and freezing conditions have shut down rail and air travel, led to long motorway tailbacks and closed schools across Europe as a cold wave that struck the continent over the weekend persisted into Tuesday.
Dutch train services were brought to an almost complete standstill on Tuesday morning, and more than 600 flights were cancelled at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, where dozens of passengers have been stranded and awaiting onward connections for several days.
Dutch carrier KLM said it is running out of de-icing fluid after using some 85,000 litres a day in recent days. In France, school buses stopped running, and train services were disrupted in some regions. Flights were cancelled in Paris and in Nantes in the west.
Tailbacks in the Paris region were reported to have reached a total of 1,000 kilometres on Monday afternoon, with conditions easing slightly into Tuesday. Five road deaths were reported.
In the United Kingdom, hundreds of schools remained closed in Scotland. Public transport trains failed to run due to ice on the power lines. The weather service predicted heavy snow for the south of the country for the rest of the week.
Temperatures plunged to minus 40 degrees Celsius in northern Sweden on Tuesday, while the Danish authorities urged people in North Jutland to stay at home on Wednesday in expectation of a snowstorm. Czech weather authorities predicted temperatures would remain below zero.
Source: Qatar Tribune
