Still snowbound

Press, 20 February 1979, Page 9

Still snowbound

NZPA-Reuter Edinburgh Snowploughs slashed through drifts as deep as seven metres to rescue stranded motorists in icebound Scotland yesterday as much of Northern Europe fought the effects of severe winter storms.

More than 200 people were trapped in cars and hotels for two or three days in northern Scotland’s Pass of Drumochter before the police were able to reach them. Scotland and the North of England remained frigid with below-zero temperatures.

At least seven persons were reported to have died in Britain in the extreme cold that swept in from northern Russia. The Government Meteorological Office predicted more snow in the next few days, and said it would be followed by a thaw that

i could cause flooding from the huge snowbanks. In north-eastern Yugoslavia, a third day of galeforce winds blew roofs off houses and damaged power lines. W i n d-d riven snow slammed into Poland again, blocking roads in an area that was still digging out of Last week’s blizzards. East and West Germany and Poland continued a ban on private cars in the areas hardest hit by last week’s I killer . storm as crews struggled to restore deliveries of essential supplies.

Several storm-related deaths were reported in Poland last week, and the Government news agency said a 10-year-old boy had frozen to death during a walk in a forest on Sunday. In northern West Germany at least, seven deaths have been attributed to the storm.