Ice storms, hurricanes, snow batter US, Europe, Japan

EUROPE, the UK and Japan have been hit by severe weather which has seen coastal villages being evacuated and air, land and sea travel badly disrupted.

In the US, an ice storm heading for the central part of the country was threatening to take down trees and power lines and create treacherous travel conditions.

Severe weather has brought travel chaos to roads and rail networks, and coastal villages are being evacuated, as heavy snow and hurricane- force winds batter Britain.

The Met Office issued severe weather warnings across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for combinations of high winds, snow and ice – and the freezing temperatures are set to last for another week.

Mass evacuations are taking place on England’s east coast after Britain’s Environment Agency issued flood risk warnings that properties could be hit by up to 3m of sea water.

The Vatican is letting homeless people, including Italians and foreigners, sleep in St Calisto Church and its adjoining buildings in Rome’s Trastevere neighbourhood.

The areas are heated and equipped with beds, blankets and hygienic services, the Holy See said. It will operate as long as the cold wave persists.

Violent storms hit northern France injuring scores and leaving 200 000 homes without electricity. Strong winds caused havoc for 210 passengers who were stranded from Thursday overnight in a highspeed Thalys train after a tree was blown on to the tracks.

They spent the night without electricity, heating and liquids in the train travelling from Brussels to Paris.

A massive snow storm triggered chaos in Germany yesterday, causing severe dis- ruption to transport nationwide and leaving parts of the country without power amid hurricane force winds.

The storm was expected to dump up to 30cm of snow in parts of the nation yesterday.

The country’s main airport in Frankfurt had to cancel about 125 of the 1 100 flights scheduled yesterday amid wind gusts of about 140km/h.

Authorities also warned of avalanches in mountainous areas and the threat of strong winds as hundreds of winter sport enthusiasts head for the Alps to enjoy the fresh snow.

Meanwhile, for ski resorts in Colorado and Sierra Nevada, in the US, the weather presented a good problem to have: too much snow.

A 61-year-old woman was found dead on Thursday under a pile of snow in front of her home in Yamagata prefecture on Honshu island, Japan, media reported. – Daily Mail, Reuters, AP, dpa

PICTURE: REUTERS A man clears snow at a parking lot in Gosen, Niigata Prefecture, Japan.

PICTURE: PA A postman in Braco, near Stirling, Scotland, does his rounds as blizzard conditions are set to bring ‘a real taste of winter to the whole of the UK’.