Heavy snow snarls traffic in Europe

VIENNA: A storm that dumped heavy snow from the Czech Republic to Croatia created headaches for commuters yesterday, causing trucks to jack-knife in Austria and stranding hundreds of motorists overnight in northern France.

Scores of travellers spent the night in community centres and hotels near the northeastern French city of Nancy, where road crews worked through the night to clear up to 30 centimetres of snow. France yesterday closed its border with Italy because of heavy snowfall, authorities said.

Only about half as much snow fell on the Vienna region, but it was enough to knock out power to at least 300 homes and cause treacherous road conditions blamed for dozens of crashes, including one that forced medics to use a helicopter to airlift two injured women to hospital.

Police were working to clear Austria's key east-west A1 highway of wreckage from a 10-car pileup in which one person was injured. Authorities said at least 11 trucks had jack-knifed, making many roadways impassable, and the snow appeared to be a factor in a crash that killed a driver whose car hit a tree in the town of Mistelbach.

Freight companies in the southern Austrian province of Styria, which borders Slovenia, lashed out at Slovene authorities for slapping a winter ban on trucks weighing over 7.5 tons and accused them of not doing enough to clear snow from highways that serve as major transit routes for goods.

Four trucks collided on the Czech Republic's main highway linking Prague to the southern city of Brno, blocking traffic. In Slovakia, officials warned of a heightened avalanche risk in the High Tatra and High Fatra mountains.

In Croatia, heavy snow and icy rain caused officials to close down local roads, effectively cutting off access to dozens of central villages. Snow also played havoc with traffic and trains in Hungary, where nearly 120 trains were running behind schedule.

In Britain, freezing rain pelted morning rush-hour commuters in some areas, and the icy conditions prompted officials to close roads and cancel train services across a swath of Kent and eastern England.

Temperatures plunged to a nationwide low of minus 8.2 C at Benson in Oxfordshire on Tuesday night, meteorologists said, and forecasters are predicting a further drop.

In France, hundreds of people were blocked-in overnight in the Calvados region of western Normandy, where the A84 highway was closed in both directions, the National Road Information Centre said. Trucks were temporarily banned from using the route, it added.

Snow blanketed most of northern Italy, causing minor traffic disruption on highways, and a motorway from Parma to La Spezia was closed as a precaution.

The storm was on track to hit Scandinavia today, and authorities warned of slippery roads, poor visibility and strong winds.

Source: China Daily