Europe
        

Top News

Snow causes fresh traffic chaos in Germany

Updated: 2010-12-14 22:03

(Xinhua)

Twitter Facebook Myspace Yahoo! Linkedin Mixx

BERLIN -- Overnight snow deeply hit German traffic again, causing airports shutdown, large number of traffic jams and accidents as well as several injuries, police said on Tuesday morning.

The most populous German state North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) was hit extremely hard, with 703 traffic accidents from Monday evening to Tuesday morning. Two people were seriously injured, while another 26 were minor wounded.

A lorry accident between the Lotte-Osnabrueck exit and Lengerich stopped the A1 motorway, causing a traffic jam, police said.

Related readings:
Snow causes fresh traffic chaos in Germany A no-name actress may nab key 'Snow White' role
Snow causes fresh traffic chaos in Germany Heavy snow hits Moscow
Snow causes fresh traffic chaos in Germany Snow mobile grand prix kicks off in Austria
Snow causes fresh traffic chaos in Germany Heavy snow in NW China's Xinjiang

The snow also paralysed several major motoways. The A2, A3 and A4 were partly blocked, while the A61 was completely closed on Tuesday morning in the direction of Koblenz from the Ludwigshafen exit.

Duesseldorf airport was closed on Monday evening and reopened on Tuesday morning, however, delays were still going on.

Although Germany has experienced several heavy snows this winter, the weather is still "not unusual" in the eyes of experts.

"Up to now only some new records for individual days or short periods have appeared, which is not unusual with respect to the often relatively short time series of observations," said Gerhard Mueller-Westermeier, an expert from German Weather Service Center (DWD).

"A tendency to generally colder winter weather in Europe in the future cannot be expected," said the expert.

In December, Germany has suffered two major heavy snows all around the country, which have caused several casualties and traffic chaos on airports, railways and roads.

E-paper

Ear We Go

China and the world set to embrace the merciful, peaceful year of rabbit

Preview of the coming issue
Carrefour finds the going tough in China
Maid to Order

European Edition

Specials

Mysteries written in blood

Historical records and Caucasian features of locals suggest link with Roman Empire.

Winning Charm

Coastal Yantai banks on little things that matter to grow

New rules to hit property market

The State Council launched a new round of measures to rein in property prices.

Top 10 of 2010
China Daily in Europe
The Confucius connection