Toll from cold mounts

Press, 14 January 1987, Page 8

Toll from cold mounts

NZPA-Reuter Moscow • ■ ‘ : Yesterday Europe slithered and shivered through one of its coldest winter days on record with numbing Siberian winds and heavy snow reported from the Atlantic to the'Urals. Thermometers across the continent plunged to record lows and the death toll climbed to more than 99. At least 77 people have been reported dead in the Soviet Union. Tass news agency reported that avalanches in the mountainous southern republic of Georgia had killed 29 people and rescue teams were continuing search operations. In Leningrad, the temperature was —35 deg., the coldest since records were started in 1743. Similar temperatures were reported in France where at least two people have died. It was even colder in Norway. The mercury plunged to —47 deg. at the Drevsjoe meteorological station about 200 km north of Oslo. In eastern Siberia it was

.minus —Mdeg. , - ; The coldest January temperatures for decades struck parts of Britain yesterday, killing at least 19 people and seriously disrupting road and rail travel The temperature dropped to —Meg. in London — the lowest recorded since records began in 1949 — and hit —l4deg. in other areas. The Weather Office said the bitter temperatures would continue for several days. Even Big Ben froze. The south-eastern county of Kent was the ‘ area most badly affected. . In Northumberland a middle-aged passenger collapsed and died after waiting on a freezing platform for nearly an hour for a train delayed by snow. The snow and ice caused havoc on Britain’s roads from Scotland to Cornwall. Drifts up to six metres deep were reported in some places. Commuter train services into London were badly hit and police in the west Midlands rescued 309 lorry drivers stranded in their cabs on snow-choked

motorways. The cold flattened the bell chimes of Big Ben. “It’s going clonk instead of being,” an official said. The Opposition has accused the Conservative. Government of being hard-hearted in its guidelines for special heating allowances for old people. Cash handouts for heating are given only after temperatures fall to —l.sdeg. for a week. In Paris, French radio said that the Government had asked Paris Metro authorities not to clear homeless people . out of- underground stations during the cold spell. In Spain and Portugal, snow blocked roads and cut off towns. Farmers said wolves were moving down from the mountains in search of ' food. In Greece, a soldier froze to death on guard duty. In Norway, doctors warned against taking hot drinks immediately after coming in from the extreme cold to avoid cracking tooth enamel. Thousands of birds perished among ice floes off the Dutch coast. Pet

lovers in Belgium were urged to insulate dog kennels. In Hungary, Budapest radio said the whole country was under at least Clem of snow and eight people had frozen to: death. Nearly a million- people were unable to go to work yesterday as train services were hit and temperatures fell to — SMeg with the forecast for more heavy snow. The intense cold left electricity authorities across Europe battling to maintain power supplies. Warsaw radio said there were power cuts in Poland; Budapest radio reported “some problems” at two power stations. Parts of western France and the Paris area were blacked out after a power plant failed for several hours near Nantes on the Atlantic coast Gales in the Mediterranean battered the coasts of southern Italy, Sicily and Sardinia. High seas damaged fishing boats and jetties. Several Italian fishermen are missing presumed drowned.