In the news:
Originally published February 6, 2012 at 8:34 PM | Page modified February 6, 2012 at 9:03 PM
Deaths and disruptions mount from the big chill in Europe
Europeans across the continent were digging out from heavy snow after a week of bitter cold in which the number of dead — most of them homeless — continued to rise by the day. Temperatures have fallen as low as minus 33 in Ukraine, the hardest-hit country, with an estimated 135 deaths so far.
PETER DEJONG / AP
A woman pulls two children in a plastic tub mounted on skis over one of Amsterdam's frozen canals Monday. In the Netherlands, a rare "Eleven Cities Tour" ice-skating marathon is being planned for later this month.
PRAGUE — Record-low temperatures from a wave of Siberian air claimed more lives and closed the Danube River on Monday, disrupting travel and damaging infrastructure as the European cold snap entered a second week.
Post-snow rains caused a dam to collapse in Bulgaria, flooding a village and killing at least four.
Temperatures in the European part of Russia are likely to remain 8 to 10 degrees lower than average this week, the Emergency Ministry in Moscow said. At least 64 Russians died and about 1,400 were treated for cold-related injuries as temperatures plunged across the country, dropping to 13 degrees below zero in Moscow.
Europeans across the continent were digging out from heavy snow after a week of bitter cold in which the number of dead — most of them homeless — continued to rise by the day. Temperatures have fallen as low as minus 33 in Ukraine, the hardest-hit country, with an estimated 135 deaths so far.
On Monday, Austria closed the Danube, the continent's second-longest river, because of ice for the first time this year at the Aschach watergate near Linz, the Transport Ministry said on its website. Traffic on the river has been halted throughout Europe. Elsewhere, rivers such as the Mtkvari in Georgia froze over for the first time in decades.
Children in Rome and along the usually temperate Adriatic coast in Croatia frolicked in rare snow; and Bosnians in the capital, Sarajevo, spontaneously organized a winter "Olympics" in which they skied down main streets and leapt out of windows into deep snow banks.
The Serbian government late on Sunday declared an emergency due to the intense snowfall. Emergency officials said that 70,000 people were cut off by the heavy snow. All primary schools and high schools were shut down for a week to save power and keep children safe. Thrilled, hundreds of kids filled the parks in the capital, Belgrade, sledding and making snow angels.
Schools also were to be closed in Rome on Tuesday, as Italy copes with unusually heavy snow for the Mediterranean country. So far, 10 deaths have been linked to winter weather, including two people who were crushed under a collapsed roof south of Rome, and a 91-year-old woman in the northeast port of Trieste who was knocked down by strong winds.
In the north, rescuers had to pluck people from their homes as piles of snow reached 10 feet in some areas. In Milan, Italy's fashion and financial capital, temperatures fell to 10 degrees on Monday, and the authorities opened a section of the city subway to shelter some 100 homeless people.
In Bosnia, hundreds of villages were isolated by snowed-in roads and avalanches, and authorities were using helicopters to evacuate the sick and deliver food. Authorities said they have had no contact for 72 hours with about 120 people in the central village of Zijemlja, where residents have no electricity or phone lines.
A woman gave birth at her home in a stranded village near the Bosnian border while an ambulance was stuck in snow on the way. Marta Glavota named her newborn daughter Snjezana, or Snow White, according to the newspaper 24 Hours.
In Poland, the Interior Ministry reported Monday that nine people died of hypothermia. In Croatia, the Dalmatia region along the Adriatic Sea was cut off from the rest of the country as roads were partially closed. Ferry lines to most islands were suspended. Two elderly people were found frozen near their homes in continental Croatia, the national news agency HINA reported.
In the Netherlands, however, Europe's deep freeze means the country's almost mythical "Eleven Cities Tour" ice-skating marathon could be staged later this month for the first time in 15 years, organizers said Monday.
The race, held along a 125-mile network of canals connecting 11 towns and cities in Friesland province, is expected to cause a national frenzy, drawing thousands of participants and more than a million spectators. It was last held in 1997.
The national weather service forecasts freezing temperatures at least through Friday, fueling hopes that the ice race would go ahead.
Also in the Netherlands, a man tried to take advantage of the weather and toss a snowball with a package of marijuana in it over the wall of a prison. The snowball crumbled and the man was arrested in The Hague, police said Monday.
