Deep freeze kills hundreds across Europe and Asia
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, February 5, 2012
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People walk in the snow in front of the European Parliament headquarters in Brussels, 03 February 2012. |
The chilly climate continued to sweep Europe with the death toll rising to more than 220, while parts of Asia were also hit hard as 63 people have died due to a snowstorm in Japan while Seoul, South Korea reported a 55-year record low temperature of minus 17 degrees Celsius.
Snowfall in northern Japan has reached 4.29 meters and some houses could collapse under the heavy weight of snow, according to Japanese weather agencies. The snowstorm also resulted in canceled flights, train delays and gridlock on highways.
German weather service DWD said yesterday it expects extreme cold to continue in central and eastern Europe for the next four days, but that temperatures would rise back above freezing point in most parts of France and Britain.
The European Union said the supply of Russian gas fell further to some Eastern European states as well as Italy, Greece and Austria, but said it was not yet facing an emergency. All EU states have obtained extra gas from other sources.
Twenty-one more deaths from a sudden cold spell have been registered in Ukraine which has been hit the hardest by the cold snap in Europe in the past 24 hours, pushing up to 122 the toll from icy temperatures gripping the country, the Emergencies Ministry said yesterday.
Ukraine is experiencing the coldest winter in six years, registering overnight temperatures down as low as minus 33 degrees Celsius.
The ministry said that of the 122 people who have died over the past eight days, 78 were found dead on the streets, 32 in their homes and 12 succumbed while receiving medical treatment.
Many of the victims are homeless people who live rough through the year, according to the ministry. Hundreds of others have been treated in hospital for frostbite and hypothermia.
Nearly 1,600 people are being given hospital treatment for cold-related ailments, the ministry said.
In Rome, Italy, people used government shovels to clear piazzas and children enjoyed another day off school yesterday as the city awoke to about 10 centimeters of fresh snow. The second snowfall in two days -- a rare event in Italy's capital - left St Peter's Basilica covered in a dazzling white mantle yesterday.
But it also left many with few buses and taxis. Some adults used their hands to dig out their cars. But others accepted 4,000 shovels handed out by Civil Protection agency volunteers in piazzas. Temperatures were expected to dip below freezing again in the usually temperate city at nightfall.
Elsewhere in Europe, the owner of Heathrow Airport says it has canceled 30 percent of flights for today amid forecasts for snow and severe weather in London.
Temperatures plummeted to minus 37 degrees Celsius in northern Slovakia and rescue workers dug through snow on mountain roads to rescue stranded bus passengers in the Balkans.
The Serbian government has declared a state of emergency in 19 municipalities in the south and east, where six people have died from cold.
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