Help us, locals ask army as snowstorms wreak havoc
BRITAIN: Forecasters warned yesterday that lives could be lost as one of the coldest snaps in recent memory led to power cuts, cancelled hospital operations and stranded vehicles across the UK.
Swathes of Scotland were placed on red alert, the Met Office’s highest warning level, indicating a risk to life, with the southwest of England also being kept under close watch.
Meteorologists said all but nonessential travel should be postponed or cancelled in central Scotland, and residents of Devon and Cornwall were also advised to stay home. The region was under an amber warning yesterday but is being closely monitored.
‘‘People [in Devon and Cornwall] need to be prepared for the event, even if they don’t go into the red,’’ said Alex Burkill, at the Met Office. ‘‘It’s a significant period of weather. People should be thinking about cancelling journeys unless necessary, even in an amber warning area.’’
Rural communities could be cut off for several days, the Met Office said, amid power cuts and mobile phone network interruptions.
A man in his sixties died in hospital after falling into a lake at Danson Park in Welling, southeast London, while in Essex a boy who ran on to a frozen lake was stranded when the ice started to break up. A friend phoned 999 and firefighters were able to rescue him using inflatable sledges.
Military help was requested in Lincolnshire after heavy snowfall. The region’s Resilience Forum, a group of local public bodies, suggested that army and RAF vehicles could be used to reach people trapped by the snow. Lincolnshire police responded to at least 65 crashes and reports of lorries jack-knifing on the A46.
Forecasters expect as much as 40cm of snow to fall in some parts of the UK, with the sea freezing over near the Isle of Wight. The roadside recovery company Green Flag said there was a 72 per cent increase in incidents by midday yesterday, with 21,000 callouts.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde cancelled all outpatient appointments and routine procedures in hospitals for today (Thursday). British Airways and Flybe cancelled all flights to Scotland, with train services in the red alert area stopped until today (Thursday).
A 16-vehicle pile-up on the A1 at Elkesley, near Sheffield, involved five lorries and led to the road being closed in both directions.
There were nationwide complaints that local authorities had failed to provide enough gritters, prompting villagers in Witham St Hughs, Lincolnshire, to spread grit on the roads using their cars.
– The Times
Russia, Syria clash with West
Russia and Syria clashed with the US and its Western allies Wednesday over responsibility for the failure of a ceasefire to take hold in Syria as the UN said humanitarian convoys are ready to head to 10 locations including besieged eastern Ghouta near the capital Damascus. The contentious Security Council meeting four days after members adopted a resolution demanding a ceasefire ‘‘without delay’’ for at least 30 days throughout Syria to deliver humanitarian aid and evacuate the critically ill and wounded reflected frustration and anger on both sides at the continued fighting and bombing.
‘Criminals’ alerted by mayor
A federal official said Wednesday that about 800 ‘‘criminals’’ avoided immigration arrests because Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf alerted the public to the surprise operation, an extraordinarily high number of missed targets. Thomas Homan, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s acting director, told Fox News that the mayor’s warning on Twitter was ‘‘beyond the pale’’ and compared her to a gang lookout who tells people when a police car is arriving. Homan said the Justice Department is looking into whether Schaaf obstructed justice. The mayor’s unusual public warning last weekend came hours before the agency launched an operation in Northern California that resulted in more than 150 arrests as of Tuesday, according to the agency.
Bomb kills UN peacekeepers
Four UN peacekeepers from Bangladesh were killed in central Mali Wednesday after their vehicle hit an explosive device and four others were seriously injured, the United Nations said Wednesday. Mali mission chief Mahamat Saleh Annadif said the peacekeepers hit the device along the Boni-Douentza road in the Mopti region. He said six Malian soldiers were also killed in a similar manner Tuesday in the Segou region. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the attack against the Bangladeshis and reiterated that attacks targeting UN peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.