SEVERE WEATHER

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21038, 14 February 1940, Page 8

SEVERE WEATHER

WORST FOR MANY YEARS HUNDREDS OF DEATHS ARCTIC TO BLACK SEA .(United Press Assn.—EJec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Feb. 12 A great ice-claw, stretching from the Arctic to the Black Sea and westward to Holland, is again clutching Europe, and already has caused hundreds of deaths, spread epidemics of influenza among thousands, immobilised sea and land transport, and intensified the food and fuel shortage. Temperature are far below freezing point. A violent snowstorm, combined with a heavy gale, swept the icebound Kattegat, heralding a new period of suffering for northern Europe. The temperature is 52 below freezing point in Denmark, the lowest since 1895. Two Danish ice-breakers were trapped when endeavouring to free ten ships. Severity in Norway Norway’s winter is the severest for sixty years. Fifty ships, eight of which are laden with coal, are icebound in outlying ports. The schools in small towns have been closed. Electricity is restricted, and several mills have closed down. Holland is enduring the bitterest weather in its history. The Waal River is a foot higher than ever before, and the menace is hourly becoming more serious. The inhabitants are evacuating the area. South-Eastern Europe is cradled in snow and ice. Vast tracts formerly flooded have frozen hard. Frozen to Death Fifteen people died in Yugoslavia, eight having been frozen to death. In Hungary the temperature is 49 degrees below freezing point. Towns and villages are isolated. In Montenegro, Bosnia and Southern Serbia scores of motor cars and other vehicles have been abandoned in snowdrifts. Packs of wolves are marauding the Hungaro-Russian frontier. First Time in 700 Years Twenty-five Swedish tourists, laden with luggage, skated from Denmark over the frozen sound for the first time in 700 years. The Danish Government has forbidden householders to use hot waiter. Scores of people fainted from the cold in the streets of Copenhagen. Others were sent to hospital suffering from frostbite. Germany’s suffering is acutely serious. An influenza epidemic has broken out in Berlin. The ground is too hard for the burial of bodies and the mortuaries are crammed with bodies awaiting a thaw. The shortage of vegetables is most serious.