BELGRADE - At least 11,000 villagers have been trapped by heavy snow and blizzards in Serbia’s mountains, authorities said yesterday, as the death toll from Eastern Europe’s weeklong deep freeze rose to 123, many of them homeless people.
The harshest winter in decades has seen temperatures in some regions dropping to minus-22 Fahrenheit and below, and has caused power outages, traffic chaos, and the widespread closure of schools, nurseries, and airports.
Gloooobbbbaaaalllll wwwwaaaaarrrrrmmmmm....
The stranded in Serbia are stuck in some 6,500 homes in remote areas that cannot be reached due to icy, snow-clogged roads with banks reaching up to 16 feet.
On Bosnia’s Mt. Romanija, near Sarajevo, a chopper thumped down in the small hamlet of Ozerkovici, where a single nun lives in a Serb Christian Orthodox monastery surrounded by just a few village residents.
Wrapped tightly in a black jacket and a scarf, Sister Justina greeted aid workers at her monastery.
“I live alone here,’’ she said, but added, “God will help me.’’
In Serbia, relief efforts are concentrated on evacuating the sick, on food delivery, and on gasoline distribution.
“We are trying everything to unblock the roads since more snow and blizzards are expected in the coming days,’’ Serbian emergency police official Predrag Maric said.
He said the most dramatic situation is near Serbia’s southwestern town of Sijenica.
In that town, it has been freezing cold or snowing for 26 days, and diesel fuel supplies used by snowplows are running low.
Most people in the villages will have enough food supplies stored up for the winter, Maric said, but he warned those who are stranded not to try to go anywhere on their own and to call emergency services if they need help.
Yesterday, newly reported deaths because of the cold included 20 in Ukraine, nine in Poland, eight in Romania, and one each in Serbia and the Czech Republic.
In Western Europe, one person was reported dead in Germany.
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"36 killed by bitter cold in Europe" January 31, 2012
BELGRADE - A severe cold snap across central and eastern Europe has left at least 36 people dead, cut off power to towns, and snarled traffic. Officials opened shelters and took other steps to aid people, particularly the homeless and elderly.
This part of Europe is not unused to cold, but the current freeze, which spread to most of the region last week, came after a period of relatively mild weather. Many were shocked when temperatures in some parts plunged to minus 4 yesterday.
“Just as we thought we could get away with a spring-like winter,’’ lamented Jelena Savic, 43, from the Serbian capital of Belgrade, her head wrapped in a shawl with only her eyes uncovered. “I’m freezing. It’s hard to get used to it so suddenly.’’
Officials appealed to people to stay indoors, searched for homeless people, and set up heaters in public places such as bus stations.
Still, 18 people, most of them homeless, died in Ukraine from hypothermia and nearly 500 people sought medical help for frostbite and hypothermia in just three days last week, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.
Temperatures in parts of Ukraine fell to minus 3 during the day and minus 10 in the night. Authorities opened 1,500 shelters to provide food and heat and closed schools and nurseries. More than 17,000 people have sought help in such shelters in the past three days, authorities said.
In Poland, at least 10 people froze to death as the temperature reached minus 15 yesterday.
Malgorzata Wozniak, a spokeswoman for Poland’s Interior Ministry, said elderly people and the homeless were among the dead. Police were checking unheated empty buildings for homeless people they could take to shelters.
City authorities in the Czech capital of Prague set up tents for an estimated 3,000 homeless people. Freezing temperatures also damaged train tracks, slowing railway traffic.
In central Serbia, three people died and two more were missing, while 14 municipalities were operating under emergency decrees. Efforts to clear roads blocked by snow were hampered by strong winds and dozens of towns faced power outages.
Police said one woman froze to death in a snowstorm in a central Serbian village, while two elderly men were found dead, one in the snow outside his home. Further south, emergency crews are searching for two men in their 70s who are feared dead.
In Bulgaria, a 57-year-old man froze to death in a northwestern village and emergency decrees were declared in 25 of the country’s 28 districts. Strong winds also closed Bulgaria’s main Black Sea port of Varn.
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"Croatians voted in favor of joining the European Union despite a poor turnout for the referendum yesterday, a sign of how much the debt-stricken 27-nation bloc has lost its appeal within countries aspiring to join....
Cold keep 'em in?
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"Snow traps thousands in Bosnian villages; Europe struggles with aftermath of big cold snap" by Aida Cerkez | Associated Press, February 06, 2012
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina - Bosnia used helicopters on Sunday to evacuate the sick and deliver food to thousands of people left stranded by its heaviest snowfall ever.
Across Eastern Europe, people continued to dig out from heavy snow, which fell during a cold snap more than a week ago. The severe weather has killed hundreds of people, cut power, and snarled transportation.
In Ukraine, the hardest hit area, temperatures have fallen as low as minus-33. The government said yesterday that the country’s death toll stands at 131, many of them homeless people. About 2,300 other Ukrainians have sought treatment for frostbite or hypothermia.
“The snow is beautiful, but let’s hope spring comes soon,’’ the pope told the pilgrims, looking out over remnants of Rome’s biggest snowstorm since 1986.
Rome’s mayor was criticized for the lack of snow plows and salters. But city officials counter that the city can not spend millions of dollars on plows that might not be used for decades.
Britain had its first snowfall of the winter Saturday - up to 6.3 inches - prompting London’s Heathrow Airport to cancel flights and stranding many drivers overnight on highways. Stansted, Birmingham, and Luton airports suspended operations overnight as snow piled up on runways, but resumed operations yesterday.
In Bosnia, more than 100 remote villages were been cut off by 6 1/2 feet of snow in the mountains. More than three feet fell in Sarajevo, the capital, where a state of emergency was declared....
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Related: "The queen braved the cold and snow to attend church yesterday."
Next Day Update:
"Winter crisis continues in Europe" Associated Press, February 07, 2012
BELGRADE - Europeans across the continent were digging out from heavy snow after a week of bitter cold in which the number of dead - most of them homeless - continued to rise by the day. Temperatures have fallen as low as minus-33 in Ukraine, the hardest-hit country.
Italy is also coping with unusually heavy snow. So far, 10 deaths have been linked to winter weather there. In the northpiles of snow reached 10 feet in some areas, and in Milan, temperatures fell to minus-10.
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