KILLER COLD HERE UNTIL EASTER
And we’re running out of gas
FROZEN Britain’s sub-zero weather nightmare will last until Easter, forecasters have predicted.
The icy warning came amid fears that Britain’s gas supplies are running low in the cold weather.
BRITAIN will shiver in sub-zero hell until Easter as the Beast From The East refuses to budge.
The warning came as a seven-year-old girl became the youngest of 10 victims claimed by the storms.
She was believed to have been killed after a car ploughed into a house in blizzard-battered Looe, Cornwall.
The Beast and Storm Emma showed no mercy for a fourth day, forcing 4,000 school closures and more than 500 flight cancellations.
They also sparked three more “danger to life” red alert warnings.
Met Office chiefs extended alerts into Devon, Somerset and Wales for today. In Leeds, a 75-year-old woman was found dead in a snowcovered street, partly under a car.
A van driver, 46, was killed in a smash with a lorry on the A34 near Tot Hill services, Hampshire Police said.
Four people died in separate crashes in Lincolnshire and Cambridge on Tuesday.
Meanwhile a grandfather who died trying to rescue his dog from a frozen lake was named last night as Stephen Cavanagh, 60, from Bexleyheath, Kent.
A 53-year-old homeless man was found dead in a tent in Retford, Lincs and care worker
Elaine McNeill was found dead in the snow yesterday in Glasgow.
Thousands were stuck for up to 13 hours in -16C temperatures on the M80 motorway in Scotland yesterday morning.
The RAF was drafted in to get life-saving doctors and nurses to work in 4x4s throughout snow-blasted Lincolnshire, which has declared a “critical incident”.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “Military assistance will continue as necessary during the current adverse weather conditions.”
Devon and Cornwall, threatened with two feet of snow, also declared a major incident last night.
Police have banned all non-essential travel in snowed-in regions. Flood warnings are in place across the North East and South West.
Major transport hubs including London Paddington station and Glasgow Airport were shut because of “extreme weather”.
Storm Emma clashed with the Siberian Beast after charging in from the Atlantic.
A Met Office spokesman said red alert regions will today be battered by “heavy snow and blizzard conditions”.
He added: “The snow will be accompanied by very strong easterly winds leading to severe drifting. Some places could also see significant ice build up due to freezing rain.
“Long delays and cancellations of public transport seem highly likely. Some roads are likely to become blocked by deep snow, stranding vehicles and passengers. Long interruptions to power supplies and other utilities are very likely to occur.”
While many chose to stay indoors because of the cold, snow allergic Rachel Warwick has no other choice.
The 30-year-old suffers from a rare condition which means she breaks out in a painful rash when she touches the white stuff.
Rachel, from Ripley, Derbys, said: “When I see the snow I just think, ‘oh, no’.
“I hate sitting in, but when it snows it is pretty much all I can do. Most people are out enjoying it – I am stuck inside.”