Europe News

 Daisy wreaks havoc across Europe before moving south

Jan 11, 2010, 10:00 GMT

A motorbike encased in ice is seen in Hannover, Germany, 10 January 2010. It appears water may have dripped over the bike from the roof above and frozen over night. EPA/Jochen Luebke

   Berlin - Low-pressure system Daisy led to more deaths, travel chaos and power cuts on Sunday, as Europe remained in the grip of severe snowfall and icy temperatures.

Over the weekend, at least 20 people died in Europe, as the snowfall continued in Germany and the rest of the continent.

Meteorologists predicted that Daisy would move south on Monday, heading towards the Mediterranean. In Germany, the snowstorms are expected to give way to a cold snap, turning the snow to firmer ice.

   Most fatalities occurred on Europe's roads.

In the Netherlands, three men, aged 17-22, died when their car skidded on ice and hit a tree, it was reported Sunday.

   The Czech Republic reported a total of three deaths caused by cars skidding in the icy and snowy conditions over the weekend, as well as a man who had a heart attack clearing snow.

   There were two fatal road accidents in Germany, and four drivers were reported killed in traffic accidents in Belgium.

Over the weekend, more than 900 road accidents, and 100 injured people, were counted in the south-western German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg alone.

   In Russia, five men died in an avalanche during a mountaineering expedition on Saturday. A Dutch man was also killed by an avalanche in the Italian alps.

Fatalities in Spain over the weekend included a man who slipped as he cleared snow, and an elderly woman who drowned when her village was flooded.

   In total more than 100 people have died across Europe since the start of the cold snap before Christmas.

   Travel chaos continued to affect roads, airports and train services across the continent.

   In northern Germany, around 200 people were stuck overnight in their cars on the A20 motorway, buried in snowdrifts reaching up to the windows of some vehicles, after lorries had skidded and blocked the road.

   Frankfurt airport cancelled an additional 85 flights on Sunday, bringing the weekend's total to more than 300. Overnight, 100 people slept in camp beds set up in the airport while hotel rooms were found for other delayed passengers.

In France, 800 people were stuck overnight at Lyon airport, including 500 Britons on their way to the Alps for skiing holidays.

   Heavy snowfall continued to disrupt train services across Germany, Deutsche Bahn said. The north of the country was worst hit, and several routes were closed. In total, 44 people had to be rescued from carriages stuck in snow.

   In the Netherlands 100,000 people were left for several hours without electricity around the cities of Haarlem and Leiden.

   In southern Poland, more than 80,000 people were cut off after the snow damaged electricity cables and pylons, the Polish press agency PAP reported.

   The heating and water supply also failed in some hospitals and social institutions, and train services were cancelled in the region.

Mecklenburg-Pomerania, in north-eastern Germany, cancelled school on Monday, while Flensburg at the northern tip of the country experienced heavy flooding.

   In Britain, the 'Big Freeze' continued to test people's patience in a country ill-equipped to deal with the exceptional amounts of snow and ice covering roads, train tracks and airport runways.

   Italians woke up to an unusual sight in the city of Naples, where the 1,281-metre-high Mount Vesuvius was almost entirely covered in snow.

   In Germany meanwhile, police were looking for a man who had given children a lift on their sledge - by attaching it to the back of his car. Other road users took photos as the sledge repeatedly slid into the oncoming traffic lane.

In Bavaria, police caught youths who had thrown snowballs at cars, breaking one driver's windscreen. Footsteps in the snow helped them catch another 20-year-old student performing the same prank from a motorway bridge.