Berlin – AP
Hundreds of vehicles were stranded on the A2 motorway in western Germany all night in that traffic jam, Bielefeld police said early Tuesday. Rescue teams went from car to car sharing blankets and hot drinks, the German news agency dpa reported.
Traffic jams have been reported due to snow and icy roads in the eastern state of Brandenburg and the central German state of Hesse. The train service was also partially canceled in several regions, and the snow plows worked non-stop to release traces of ice and snow.
The country’s transport minister urged Germans to stay home and avoid travel.
“When conditions are so extreme, even the best track warm-up and the best snow plow can reach their limits,” said Andreas Scheuer.
The snowy weather also affected Dortmund regional airport in western Germany, where all flights were either canceled or redirected to other airports until Thursday at 6 am.
More snow was forecast for northern Germany on Tuesday, especially for Schleswig-Hollstein, the German DWD Meteorological Service reported.
Parts of Central and Northern Europe, as well as the United Kingdom, were covered by a cold-weather front over the weekend, which the Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute, the Dutch national meteorological service, called Storm Darcy.
In the neighboring Czech Republic, trucks formed mile-long traffic lines on the D8 motorway linking the capital Prague to Germany. Traffic was stopped after Czech and German authorities closed tunnels on both sides of the border and crossed the border overnight due to severe weather.
Meanwhile, the people of Prague have enjoyed the best snow conditions in a decade for cross-country skiing on the famous Charles Bridge in Prague and in the picturesque neighborhood of the nearby small neighborhood.
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This story has been corrected to show that the Dutch national weather service, not the UK forecasters, called it Storm Darcy.