BERLIN (AP) – A snowstorm and strong winds devastated northern and western Germany on Sunday, forcing trains to cancel trips and causing hundreds of road accidents. Police said 28 people were injured on icy roads.
The German Meteorological Service DWD urged people to stay home and authorities took homeless people to warm shelters amid sub-zero temperatures.
National train operator Deutsche Bahn said the main train routes between Hamburg and Hannover, Berlin and the west were canceled as snow accumulated on the tracks and power lines. Some train connections to the east were also canceled, although most of the snow fell to the northwest.
Police in North Rhine-Westphalia said early Sunday that it had counted 222 accidents due to bad weather since Saturday afternoon. They said two people among the 28 were seriously injured.
In the western city of Münster, among the most affected places, there was so much snow on the streets that ambulances could no longer circulate and all public transport was closed. More than 30 centimeters (almost 12 inches) of snow had fallen, accumulating up to 1 meter in some parts and more snow was expected to fall on Sunday.
In Wuppertal, western Germany, firefighters had to rescue six passengers from the city’s famous elevated railway after a train stopped moving due to icy conditions. They had to climb some stairs to reach the people on the train and help them get off the ground, the adp reported.
City officials in the western city of Hagen walked the streets at night waking up homeless people sleeping outside and took them to shelters, the German news agency dpa reported. In Berlin, the capital’s largest shelter, a city of shops on the outskirts, was cleaned up early Saturday to make sure people didn’t freeze at sub-zero temperatures.
While the west of the country froze, southern Germany experienced warm, spring-like temperatures.
The unusual split in weather and temperature was caused by a polar vortex pushing icy Arctic air into northern Germany, just as a low-pressure front brings warm, humid weather from the southwest. , said the DWD.
In the Netherlands, snow covered much of the country, forcing the government to cancel a weekly crisis meeting to discuss the coronavirus pandemic. Train services were suspended and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport warned passengers of possible flight cancellations.
National broadcaster NOS showed footage of a snowball fight early in the morning involving locals and police in Amsterdam’s Dam Square.
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Mike Corder contributed to the reports from Wekerom, the Netherlands.