Freezing conditions cause death and chaos across Europe
Freezing temperatures across Europe have caused more than a dozen deaths and major disruption to power, water supplies and transport networks in recent days.
Temperatures as low as -26C (-15F) caused ice to form on the Adriatic sea, the Danube and many smaller rivers, lakes and ponds.
In Italy eight deaths were blamed on the extreme cold and the authorities said there were two more in Poland on Saturday, bringing the nation’s death toll from winter weather to 55 since the beginning of November. The dead in Italy included a man living in the basement of an unused building in Milan and another on a street flanking Florence’s Arno river. They were among at least half a dozen weather-related deaths of homeless people in the country.
Heavy snow and high winds also resulted in rerouted flights, delayed ferries, cancelled trains and closed roads in Italy. With no indication of a letup, some schools in the south of the country were ordered not to open on Monday because of as much as a metre of snow, the Ansa news agency reported. In Rome the fountains in St Peter’s Square froze overnight.
In Bulgaria police said three people , including a man from Iraq and a Somali woman, had died from cold in the mountains near Turkey as they tried to make their way in to Europe.
Aid workers in Serbia helped hundreds of migrants sleeping rough in parks and makeshift shelters, and the authorities banned river traffic on the Danube because of the conditions.
From: The Guardian
