Travel chaos after heavy snow in Germany

7 February 2021, 10:54

Germany Weather
Germany Weather. Picture: PA

Train services were cancelled and there were dozens of accidents on icy roads.

A snowstorm and strong winds pounded northern and western Germany on Sunday, forcing rail services to be cancelled and leading to hundreds of road accidents.

Police said 28 people were injured on icy roads.

Authorities took homeless people into warm shelters amid the sub-zero temperatures.

National train operator Deutsche Bahn said main rail services between Hamburg and Hanover, Berlin and the west were cancelled as snowdrifts piled up on the tracks and power lines.

Some train connections in the east were also cancelled, though most of the snow fell in the north-west.

Germany Weather
A Deutsche Bahn employee clears snow from a platform at the main station in Magdeburg, German (Peter Gercke/dpa/AP)

Police in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia said early on Sunday that they had counted 222 accidents due to the bad weather conditions since Saturday afternoon. They said two of the casualties were severely injured.

German weather service DWD urged people to stay at home.

In the western city of Muenster, among the hardest hit places in the country, there was so much snow on the streets that ambulances could no longer drive.

Almost 12in (30cm) of snow had fallen, piling up to more than 3ft (1m) in some parts, and more snow was expected to fall on Sunday.

Germany Weather
Parked cars in Gelsenkirchen are covered with snow, which is rare in the industrial Ruhr area (Martin Meissner/AP)

City authorities in the western town of Hagen walked through the streets at night waking up homeless people sleeping outside and taking them to shelters, the dpa news agency reported.

In Berlin, the capital’s biggest shelter, a tent city on the outskirts, was cleared early on Saturday to make sure people did not freeze to death in sub-zero temperatures.

While the west of the country was freezing, southern Germany experienced balmy, spring-like temperatures.

The unusual weather and temperature divide was caused by a polar vortex pushing icy air from the Arctic towards northern Germany just as a low pressure front brought wet, warm weather from the south-west, DWD said.

By Press Association

Latest World News

See more Latest World News

Friends of Prince Andrew say he's "unsurprised" Giuffre made the post

Prince Andrew 'not surprised' his accuser shared shock post saying she had 'four days to live'

South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol

South Korea president Yoon Suk Yeol removed from office as impeachment upheld over martial law declaration

Virginia Giuffre

Woman driving Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Giuffre during crash that left her with 'four days to live' breaks silence

Exclusive
'Donald Trump has made Putin comfortable,' Mikhail Khodorkovsky has warned

'Trump has made Putin comfortable' despite massive Ukraine war losses, exiled former oligarch tells LBC

The bodies of Andrew Searle and his wife Dawn were discovered by a neighbour.

British couple found dead in south of France home being ‘treated as murder-suicide’

The vehicle was later extinguished after the driver, covered in flames, emerged from the vehicle.

Amsterdam Dam Square car explosion sees driver engulfed in flames - just days after mass stabbing

d

Pictured: US tourist arrested for sailing to remote island and leaving a can of Coke for world's most isolated tribe

The Sentinelese are a pre-Neolithic tribe that rejects contact with the modern world

US tourist arrested for sailing to remote island and leaving a can of Coke for the world's most isolated tribe to try

The Trump administration has been ridiculed after imposing tariffs on uninhabited islands

'No one is safe, not even the penguins': Trump administration ridiculed after imposing tariffs on uninhabited islands

World leaders react to US tariffs

'This is not the act of a friend': World leaders react to Trump's 'unwarranted' tariffs

British couple

British couple found dead in New Zealand named - as police probe possible murder-suicide

Virginia Giuffre said she had been left with 'four days to life' after the crash

Bus driver breaks silence on Virginia Giuffre crash that left her 'with four days to live'

Foreign Secretary David Lammy

David Lammy to urge Nato allies to increase defence spending in bid to make alliance 'stronger, fairer and more lethal'

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen

EU threatens further countermeasures against US tariffs after 'major blow to world economy'

Lord Sugar labels Trump tariffs 'a disaster' as Apprentice star teases potential US Presidential meeting

Lord Sugar labels Trump tariffs 'a disaster' and warns that the president 'hasn't thought it through'

Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations in Gaza

Israel expands ground attack on Gaza to seize 'large areas' - despite pleas from hostage families