Istanbul – Freezing conditions struck many parts of Europe on Saturday, causing several deaths in hundreds of weather-related incidents from France to Turkey.
Germany’s weather turned Arctic, with one part of Saxony registering a low of minus 31.4 degrees Celsius and many regions seeing their coldest temperatures so far this winter.
The cold weather front dubbed Axel sent icy rain across many areas, with the northern part of the country the worst hit.
Dozens of pedestrians slipped on the ice and injured themselves in Hamburg, leading to some 50 call-outs by the emergency services in the space of two hours.
Temperatures were expected to edge back up at the start of the week.
A dog walks during heavy snowfall that has hit Istanbul in the start of the year. The snowstorm dumped almost 40 centimetres of snow in parts of the Turkish metropolis overnight, causing havoc on roads. Image: Depo Photos via Zuma Wire
In France, temperatures hit minus 13 degrees Celsius near the border with Germany. Several cities opened gymnasiums as shelters for homeless people who would otherwise have to spend the night on the streets.
One homeless man was found frozen to death under a bridge in the Czech capital Prague. One other man died of hypothermia when he fell through sheet ice covering a lake in Prague’s Hradistko district.
Italian authorities also reported the death of a homeless man, probably due to the cold. They did not confirm reports that several other homeless people had died in previous days.
Istanbul’s Bosporus Strait was closed to shipping traffic Saturday as the city weathered a winter storm that surprised residents with up to 40 centimetres of snow, the Anadolu news agency reported.
The halt meant ferry traffic between the European and Asian sides of the metropolis, which straddles the two continents, also had to be stopped.
In addition, hundreds of flights had to be cancelled.
In the Netherlands, several people were injured in hundreds of reported accidents. One driver died when his car slid into a ditch, police said.
Roads became very icy and the train network was disrupted.
Hungary meanwhile saw its coldest weather in five years, hitting minus 23 in the north, according to the national weather bureau.
Skiers in Austria and Switzerland were warned of a “serious risk of avalanches.” One French skier died in an avalanche in the Swiss canton of Valais; in Austria’s Tirol a German skier survived an avalanche in the Fieberbrunn ski resort, police said.
-dpa
