Heavy rain, snow and an extreme cold snap plunged large parts of Europe into chaos in the first days of January, particularly in Western Europe and the Nordic countries, with at least six deaths, transport disruptions, power outages and the closure of schools. The forecast is that this storm will last at least until the weekend and that temperatures will continue to fall in areas further south such as Spain, where large amounts of polar marine air will hit it traditional Epiphany with snow in very low rates.
At three people who died in the storm yesterday in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Belgium, It adds a fourth whose body was found last night, a 73-year-old man who died when his vehicle was swept away by flooding caused by floods recorded in northern France.
AND After a three-day search, Lapp police today found the body of a 12-year-old boy who disappeared after an avalanche in Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park. which also resulted in the death of his mother. The poor weather conditions and the density of snow made the search difficult. France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland and Denmark are among the countries most affected by this first storm of the year today.
Actually, In southern Sweden, a thousand people are stuck on the roads due to heavy snowfall – Numerous cars have been stuck on the E22 between Hörby and Kristianstad since yesterday Wednesday – and thousands of households have no electricity. According to Swedish agency TT, a thousand people were still trapped this morning, although some were picked up by ambulances while others were receiving help from the army.
According to P4 Norrbotten Radio, About 4,000 households were without power due to the blackoutThe temperatures have dropped to minus 38 degrees in some places. Further north, in Swedish Lapland, temperatures as low as minus 43.6 degrees were recorded last night, the lowest in 25 years.
In Finnish Lapland this morning, shortly before noon local time, thermometers recorded Minus 42.7 degrees at Enontekio Airportnear the border with Norway, the lowest temperature in a decade, according to the Finnish Meteorological Institute, and a mark reached only three times since 2000.
Meanwhile, in Denmark, one and a half meters of snow was measured this morning in Hald, west of the Jutland peninsula, the deepest depth recorded in the last 13 years, according to the country's weather service.
Further east, in the city of Svendborg, In one day, 59 millimeters of rain fell per square meter, This broke the record since 1886. In France, the red alert for flooding remains in effect this Thursday in the Calais department, where at least 371 people had to be evacuated because they were waiting for a new rain front. The red alert remains in place due to flooding of the River Aa and is at orange level for Hem, Canche, Lys-Plaine and Lys-Amont.
According to the prefecture Across the Pas de Calais department, 1,299 residents were directly affected by flooding as of 8:00 p.m. (19:00 GMT) on Wednesday. This impacted 189 communities where river flooding occurred. There are 450 firefighters from the local department on duty there, who have been joined by 120 from the rest of the country since Wednesday.
The authorities have installed pumping systems at various locations Pas de Calais and the adjacent Nord department, Border with Belgium, which is also on alert due to the risk of flooding, with a capacity of up to 62,340 cubic meters of water per hour.
Active alarm
French government spokesman Olivier Véran, who will today visit the victims and the services working to minimize the impact of the floods, stressed that what is happening is a “climate disaster” and assured that they adhering to the promises made by President Emmanuel Macron after the November floods in the same area.
The British Environment Agency remains active a total of 271 flood warnings in various parts of Englandespecially in the center and east, as a result of the storm that is hitting the country these days.
In parallel, the Met Office has issued a “yellow rain warning” for London and the south west of England from 12:00 GMT today until 03:00 GMT tomorrow, where the rainfall “could lead to new flooding and changes to transport”. as many places are already saturated with water from previous rains.
However, he explains it The current risk of power outages or flooding in households and businesses is “low”although road traffic may be affected.
In this first week of the new year, the Siberian cold has also arrived in Moscow with temperatures of over 25 degrees below zero. (Information prepared with contributions from the EFE Agency delegations in France, the United Kingdom and Germany).