Snow, winds slam Europe
GENEVA » An extreme cold snap across Europe claimed more lives, forced the closure of airports in Scotland, Switzerland, France and Irelandand left hundreds of drivers stranded on snowy highways Thursday.
Heavy snow and high winds halted all flights in and out of Dublin Airport, with authorities saying they are unlikely to resume until Saturday. Irish Rail said no trains are likely to run until Saturday.
Forecasters expected a new storm to bring blizzards, 60mph winds, freezing rain and thunderstorms to Ireland, Wales and southwest England on Thursday. They predicted zero visibility and deep pockets of snow.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar urged people to get home by 4 p.m. Thursday and stay there until the storm has passed.
The World Health Organization warned Thursday that the cold weather poses particular risks to vulnerable people such as the elderly, children and those with chronic diseases or disabilities.
Swedish media reported that a woman who had left her home at an asylum center with her daughter and son, ages 8 and 9, was pronounced dead after being found in a forest.
Danish police said an 84-year-old woman with dementia became the second person to die in the country because of the coldweather. She left home late Wednesday and was found Thursday in a park in Roskilde, west of Copenhagen.
Across Europe, chaos marked travel at airports and on highways.
Geneva’s airport closed after the Swiss city was hit with 5 inches of snow over a three-hour period Thursday. It reopened a few hours later after de-icing of the runway and facilities.
Snow also shut down Glasgow and Edinburgh airports in Scotland, and there were cancellations at Heathrow and other airports in Britain. Airports in the southern French cities of Montpellier and the Atlantic beach resort of Biarritz were also affected.
In the Paris region, about two dozen officials braved a night outdoors to call attention to the plight of the homeless after at least 13 died from exposure since Jan. 1.
Dragging blankets and sleeping bags, officials from an array of political parties wearing blue, white and red sashes hunkered down near Austerlitz train station as snow began falling early Thursday. The city was blanketed in white by daybreak.
Hundreds of drivers were trapped in their cars overnight in Scotland.
Police in the county of Lincolnshire in eastern England said most roads there are impassable, with asmuch as 2 feet of snow in rural areas.
In southern France, about 2,000 cars were blocked on highways in the Herault region, where snow is extremely rare.
Macedonia’s government urged employers to pregnant women and people over 60 from working for a day and to pay special attention to keeping construction workers warm due to the freezing conditions. The low temperature Thursday in Macedonia dropped to minus 0.4 Fahrenheit near the border with Bulgaria.