BERLIN (AP) – A snowstorm and strong winds hit northern and western Germany on Sunday, forcing trains to cancel trips and leading to hundreds of road accidents. Police said 28 people were injured on icy roads.
The German weather service DWD asked people to stay at home, and the authorities brought homeless people to warm shelters amid sub-zero temperatures.
The national train operator Deutsche Bahn said the main train routes between Hamburg and Hanover, Berlin and the west have been canceled, as piles of snow pile up on lines and power lines. Some train connections from the east were also canceled, although most of the snow fell in the northwest.
Police in western North Rhine-Westphalia said early Sunday that they had counted 222 accidents due to adverse weather conditions as of Saturday afternoon. They said two of the 28 people were seriously injured.
In the western city of Muenster, among the most affected places, there was so much snow on the streets that ambulances could no longer travel and all public transport was closed. More than 30 centimeters (almost 12 inches) of snow fell, gathering up to 1 meter (more than 3 feet) in some parts and more snow was expected on Sunday.
In Wuppertal, in western Germany, firefighters were forced to rescue six passengers from the city’s famous high-rise railway after a train stopped operating due to freezing conditions. They had to climb the stairs to reach the people on the train and help them get down to earth, dpa reported.
City officials in the western city of Hagen took to the streets at night to wake homeless people sleeping outside and take them to shelters, the German news agency dpa reported. Berlin, the capital’s largest shelter, a city with tents on the outskirts, was cleared early Saturday to make sure people don’t freeze to death in sub-zero temperatures.
As the west of the country froze, southern Germany experienced calm, spring-like temperatures.
The unusual division of weather and temperature was caused by a polar vortex pushing frozen air from the Arctic to northern Germany, just as a low-pressure front brings humid, warm weather from the southwest, DWD said.
In the Netherlands, snow covered much of the country, forcing the government to cancel a weekly crisis meeting to discuss the coronavirus pandemic. Train services have been suspended and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport has warned passengers of possible flight cancellations.
The national broadcaster NOS showed images of a fight with snowballs early in the morning, involving locals and police in the Dam center of Amsterdam.
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Mike Corder contributed to the reports from Wekerom, the Netherlands.