BERLIN (AP) – Heavy snowfall in Germany caused more severe traffic disruptions on Tuesday, including a 37-kilometer roundabout in which hundreds of cars and trucks were trapped on a road for hours with sub-zero temperatures.
Hundreds of vehicles were stranded on the A2 road in western Germany all night in this traffic jam, Bielefeld police reported early Tuesday. Rescue crews went from car to car handing out blankets and hot drinks, the German news agency dpa reported.
There were also snowfalls and icy roads in the state of Brandenburg east and east of Hesse in central Germany. Train service was also partially canceled in several regions and snowplows worked all day to clear the ice and snow tracks.
The country’s Transport Minister asked the Germans to stay home and avoid traveling.
“When conditions are so extreme, even the best track heating and the best snowplow can reach their limits,” Andreas Scheuer said.
The snowy weather also affected Dortmund Regional Airport in western Germany, where all flights were canceled or redirected to other airports until 6am on Thursday.
More snow was forecast for northern Germany on Tuesday, especially for Schleswig-Hollstein, according to the German weather service DWD.
Since the weekend, parts of central and northern Europe, as well as Britain, have been hit by a cold weather front that the Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute, the Dutch national meteorological service, named Storm Darcy.
In the neighboring Czech Republic, trucks formed kilometers of traffic lines on the D8 road 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 at night due to the severe weather.
Meanwhile, the people of Prague enjoyed the best snow conditions in a decade for cross-country skiing on the famous Prague Bridge and the picturesque Little Quarter.
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This story has been corrected to show that it was the Dutch national weather service, not the UK forecasts, who named Storm Darcy.