2024-01-04 11:52:02
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Extreme cold, high winds and snow wreaked havoc on Thursday in Scandinavia, leaving thousands without power while others braved the cold for hours trapped in their cars on collapsed roads.
The heavy rains in Germany, France and Holland once once more caused flooding in the regions that have been in this situation for two weeks.
The cold snap disrupted transportation across the Nordic region amid reports of chaos in road traffic following the closure of stretches of motorways and major roads. Problems were also reported in the railway system.
In Sweden’s Arctic region, some 4,000 homes were left without power in temperatures of -38 degrees Celsius (-36.4 degrees Fahrenheit), according to Swedish Public Radio. In the south of the country, drivers were trapped in their vehicles or evacuated to a nearby sports complex to spend the night.
In Finnish Lapland, the municipality of Enontekio, near the border with Norway and Sweden, recorded the lowest temperature in the country this winter on Thursday at -42.5º C (-44.5º F). Forecasters predict even colder weather for the rest of the week.
In Germany, torrential rains once more hit areas that have suffered persistent flooding over the past two weeks. Chancellor Olaf Scholz is scheduled to inspect a dam and a sandbag filling facility in Sangerhausen, a city in the east of the country, on Thursday for the second time this week.
After several days of rain and flooding, several towns in northern France were flooded on Thursday. Hundreds of people have been evacuated in recent days from an area that already suffered floods in November and December, from which some towns had not yet recovered. Several government ministers will travel to the region later in the day.
The Dutch government, which is also facing rising rivers and lakes, would send pumping stations to France to help deal with flooding.
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Associated Press writers Angela Charlton in Paris, Geir Moulson in Berlin, Mike Corder in Amsterdam and Jari Tanner in Helsinki contributed to this report.
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