London: The harshest winter in decades on Thursday
caused a new round of travel chaos in Britain with the thick
layer of snow on ground turning to ice and forcing three
million people to miss work, even as at least three persons
died in cold-related mishaps across Europe.
Heavy snowfall paralysed transport links yesterday,
shutting airport runways, delaying train services and closing
roads in various parts of the UK.
The big freeze has already cost businesses in Britain an
estimated 690 million pounds, and experts fear economic output
could be hit by as much as 14 billion pounds over the next
three weeks if the bad weather continued.
People faced difficult journeys on icy roads today. About
1,000 motorists were stranded for 12 hours in a 16-km tailback
on the motorway in Hampshire. Some of them described scenes
"like a disaster movie".
Benson in Oxfordshire was one of the UK's coldest spots,
plunging to minus 17 degree C. Parts of Manchester saw the
mercury dip to minus 15 degree C, with Glasgow seeing minus 9
degree C and even central London falling to minus 3 degree C.
Forecasters said the cold spell was the worst for almost
three decades and warned that temperatures could drop to minus
20 degree C in parts of Scotland this weekend.
There were some small signs of respite today, with no
extreme weather warnings for the first time in two days, all
UK airports open and train operators putting on more services
for hard-pressed travellers.
Up to 5,000 homes in southeast were without electricity
last night after heavy snow affected power lines Brighton and
Crawley in Sussex were the worst-affected, with many homes in
Kent and Surrey also without power.
Business leaders said three million people missed work in
the worst-hit areas, an absence rate of about 50 per cent.
Many parents were forced to take time off because more
than 10,000 schools were closed.
Cold-related mishaps caused two deaths in France and one
in Spain. Travel chaos was reported in various countries with
the Dublin airport in Ireland remaining closed and heavy snow
causing delays and cancellations at Amsterdam-Schiphol
airport.
Norway was among the coldest countries in Europe, with
temperatures in the central town of Roeros plunging to minus
41 degrees Celsius.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, January 07, 2010, 18:03