Record snow brings Kiev to a halt
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, March 26, 2013
The Ukrainian capital struggled to clear its streets yesterday after a record-breaking snowfall, as some took advantage of an official day off to ski down the streets while car drivers fumed in vast traffic jams.
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A Ukrainian clears snow from his car after three days of heavy snowfall in Kiev. [Photo/Shanghai Daily] |
The Ukrainian authorities told its public sector workers in Kiev to stay home yesterday after what forecasters described as the biggest snowfall in the capital for over a century. After a snowstorm that began on Friday and only died down on Sunday, many of the roads in the city center were still not cleaned yesterday, slowing traffic to a crawl.
Residents also suspected the city of trying to pull a fast one on them. A photo that appeared on the Kiev administration's website showed three snowplows clearing a street. The street is actually in Moscow.
Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency said yesterday that it was an agency photo taken last November and retouched to remove the name of the snowplows' Russian operator.
The photo was removed from the site, but not before some frame grabs of it were posted on Facebook, prompting comments such as "shame."
Prime Minister Mykola Azarov's motorcade also got stuck on a snow-covered bridge across the Dnieper River that flows through Kiev.
"The situation is very difficult," Azarov said, quoted in a statement. His motorcade in the end had to turn round and take a different route.
Meteorologists said that 41 millimeters of precipitation fell from Friday to Saturday, a figure reflecting the amount of water in the snow.
The authorities declared a state of emergency after thousands of inhabitants spent Friday night in unprecedented traffic jams.
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