Harsh winter kills 60 people across Europe

[News_Editor]

Harsh winter kills 60 people across Europe

2010-12-04 04:06:28 GMT+7 (ICT)

PARIS (BNO NEWS) -- The harsh winter weather has caused the death of at least 60 people across Europe , 45 this week, as transportation is still affected and heavy flooding caused mass evacuations in the Balkans.

In the last 24 hours, seven people died in Central Europe due to due to the harsh weather that dropped to minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas. Eleven more died in Russia, three in France and one in Germany.

In Poland, approximately 30 individuals, most of them homeless men, died due to the cold weather as heavy and constant snowfall continues to cover Europe with several inches of thick snow.

In the United Kingdom, authorities urged citizens, specially those in Newcastle, to wear a coat when they hit the pubs this weekend as they are known for their indifference to cold weather. Earlier this week, Gatwick Airport near London was shut down but reopened on Friday.

However, other UK airports such as Heathrow, warned about more cancellations and delays in its weekend flights. On Tuesday, many airports closed operations and some are still canceling services including the Geneva airport, and Frankfurt and Munich airports.

In the Western Balkans region, heavy rainfall caused flooding that forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes in Albania, Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro on Friday. In Albania the situation is reported as very serious and around 7,000 people were moved to safer areas.

The temperature has also registered high-records in some cities. Berlin faces its coldest December in 80 years as it registered minus 10.9 degrees Celsius (12.3 degrees Fahrenheit) during night. In Moscow, temperatures hit a low minus 24 degrees Celsius (minus 11 Fahrenheit).

The Italian city of Venice, famous for being surrounded by water canals, registered an exceptionally high tide. By late morning it had risen to 140 centimeters (55 inches) above the average sea level, covering more than half the city and leaving the Saint Mark's Square under water.

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