DAYS MORE CHAOS AHEAD
Number of deaths hits 13 Flights and rail in turmoil Thousands without power
A COUPLE had their wedding saved when 40 volunteers, some with diggers, cleared a path through the snow to St Cuthbert’s Church in Shotley Bridge, County Durham.
BRITAIN is braced for several more days of travel chaos in the wake of final blasts from the Beast from the East and Storm Emma.
Yesterday snow, high winds and blizzards effectively closed off huge swathes of the country’s transport network, leaving thousands trapped in cars and stranded on trains.
Rail operators will now spend the weekend desperately trying to repair trains damaged during the worst snowstorms since 1991.
Amid warnings of floods and ice, travellers were told to expect major disruption over the weekend and possibly into next week.
Last night, forecasters said Britain is ‘not out of the woods yet’ as thawing snow is predicted to turn into deadly black ice. On a fifth day of weather chaos: Troops in Greater Manchester, Wiltshire and Hampshire were called in to rescue families stranded in their cars overnight;
The snow- covered South West was braced for serious flooding caused by seven- foot waves, gales and tides up to a foot higher than normal;
The storm’s death toll rose to 13 after the body of a 70- year- old man was recovered from cliffs in Torquay, Devon;
Almost 2,000 flights from the UK and Ireland were cancelled in one of the worst days of disruptions in years;
British Gas sparked fury for telling customers they will have to wait up to ten days to get their boilers fixed;
Forty cars were involved in a pile-up on the A38 in Devon;
Some 4,000 properties in Wales and South West England and 5,000 in Derbyshire were left without power yesterday morning.
The Beast from the East delivered Britain’s coldest ever daily maximum temperature for March. The Met Office said the -4.7C (23.5F) recorded in chilly Tredegar, South Wales, in the 24 hours to 9am yesterday beat a previous record of -4.6C (23.7F) in Cassley, Sutherland, in March 2001.
As the death toll rose, the body of 51-year-old Alison Fox was found after she went missing in the Ochil Hills near Stirling on Thursday. A man was also found dead on a snow-bound pavement in Westgate-on-Sea near Margate, Kent.
Southern England was thrown into turmoil when two of the region’s biggest rail operators cancelled rush-hour journeys due to giant icicles and freezing rain falling on overhead lines.
London Waterloo, the UK’s busiest station, announced plans to shut at 8pm, but later said it would stay open as long as trains are able to run. Southeastern and South Western Railways told passengers to avoid travelling if possible.
Meanwhile, rail routes down to the West Country were effectively severed as Storm Emma destroyed part of a £35million sea wall protecting the rail line at Dawlish in Devon.
On the roads, thousands of motorists who ignored police warnings to stay indoors spent Thursday night in their cars as snow drifts and collisions paralysed major routes. Police in Manchester said the huge tailbacks seen on the M62 were made worse when drivers chose to ignore road closure signs.
Rob Potts, an assistant chief constable at Greater Manchester Police, said the problems were made worse when several hundred more drivers were stuck on smaller roads in the Pennines despite signs saying the routes were closed. Police were forced to call in help from the RAF. Drifts on some roads were said to be up to five feet deep. Mr Potts said: ‘People were overoptimistic or maybe felt confident that in spite of the road closed signs they could get through. It exacerbated the scale of what was a major incident.’ Although the snow is expected to turn patchy over the weekend, with the temperatures becoming milder, there is expected to be more disruption ahead. In a joint statement, Network Rail and Southeastern said a number of trains have been damaged by the severe weather that could lead to short- term cancellations.
There is also expected to be continuing disruption on the roads. Breakdown recovery firm Green Flag claimed one car every five minutes veered off the road due to black ice and high winds.
As Britain thaws, the Environment Agency warned of a heightened flood risk in coastal areas.
It has issued a series of alerts for the length of Devon and Cornwall, where winds of 50-60mph are forecast.