BERLIN (AP) – Heavy snowfall in Germany on Tuesday led to worse traffic disruptions, including a 37km long wooden canopy in which hundreds of cars and trucks were stuck for hours on a highway in temperatures below zero.
Hundreds of vehicles were trapped in the traffic jam on the A2 in West Germany all night, police in Bielefeld reported early Tuesday. Rescue teams went from car to car to hand out blankets and hot drinks, reports the German news agency dpa.
Traffic jams due to snowfall and icy roads have also been reported in the eastern state of Brandenburg and in the state of Hesse in central Germany. Train services were also partially canceled in several regions and snow plows worked all day to clear ice and snow.
The country’s transport minister asked Germans to stay home and travel.
“If the conditions are so extremely important, even the best track heating and the best snow plow can reach their limits,” Andreas Scheuer said.
The snowstorm also affected Dortmund’s local airport in West Germany, where all flights were canceled until 06:00 on Thursday or diverted to other airports.
The German weather service DWD predicted more snow for Tuesday before Tuesday, especially for Schleswig-Hollstein.
Parts of Central and Northern Europe as well as Britain have been gripped by a cold weather front since the weekend, which the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, the Dutch weather service, named Storm Darcy.
In the neighboring Czech Republic, trucks formed kilometers of traffic on the D8 motorway connecting the capital of Prague with Germany. Traffic was halted after Czech and German authorities closed the tunnels on both sides of the border and the border crossing overnight due to severe weather.
Meanwhile, people in Prague have enjoyed the best snow conditions in a decade for cross-country skiing on the famous Charles Bridge in Prague and the nearby picturesque Little Quarter area.
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This story was corrected to indicate that it was the Dutch weather service, not British forecasters, who called Storm Darcy.