Europe snow causes mass flight cancellations, Paris traffic jams reach record 1000km

Amsterdam: More flights will be cancelled, trains will run late and roads will be blocked by snow across Europe in coming days as a cold snap is forecast to worsen, bringing even more heavy snowfall after several days of travel disruption.

Authorities in the Netherlands told people to plan to stay at home if at all possible on Wednesday, with a fresh blizzard expected to arrive overnight.

French Transportation Minister Philippe Tabarot said on Tuesday evening (Wednesday AEDT) that airlines had already been ordered to cancel at least 40 per cent of flights at Paris’ main airport, Charles de Gaulle, for the next morning, and a quarter of flights at Orly airport.

Public transportation in the Paris region would probably also be disrupted by the snow, he added.

Dutch airline KLM said it had protectively cancelled 600 flights on Wednesday to avoid last-minute cancellations that could leave travellers stranded at Schiphol airport, one of Europe’s main hubs.

KLM had already cancelled 400 flights at Schiphol on Tuesday and told travellers whose flights had been called off to stay away from the airport to prevent overcrowding.

“We haven’t experienced such extreme weather conditions in years,” spokesperson Anoesjka Aspeslagh said.

Stranded at Schiphol, Simiao Sun said she feared she would spend her 40th birthday in transit. She had been told she would have to wait three days for a rescheduled flight to Britain where she lives.

“My child would miss school and we would both miss work, so I’m queuing here … hoping to get a slightly earlier flight.”

Roads in France were gradually clearing on Tuesday after snow caused severe accidents all over the country, killing at least five people, according to BFMTV news station. Traffic-jams in the Paris area hit a record 1000 kilometres on Monday evening.

In Germany, temperatures fell well below -10 degrees in the south and east early on Tuesday. Much of the country was covered in snow.

In Britain, the Meteorological Office said winter weather hazards could continue throughout the week for most of the country. Temperatures overnight to Tuesday had fallen as low as -12.5 degrees in Marham, Norfolk, in eastern England, marking the coldest night of the winter so far.

Heavy snow and rain have also caused havoc across the Western Balkans, closing roads, cutting power and causing rivers to flood. A woman died in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo on Monday after a tree overburdened with wet snow fell on her.

Reuters

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