The severe cold weather currently gripping
Eastern Europe has now spread to Italy and as far south as Turkey. As many as
80 people have died, mainly in Ukraine and Poland, as the death freeze settles
over the continent.
Dan Britton, a press officer at Britain’s Met
Office, told ABC News the cold weather stems from “a large area of high pressure sitting over Eastern Europe, which has
brought about cold temperatures over quite a large area.” The Ukraine
has suffered the most fatalities as emergency ministries confirmed 43 people
had perished in minus-28 degree temperatures. While hospitals in Ukraine have
treated more than 600 people for frostbite and pneumonia, many of the dead were
homeless people who were unable to find shelter at night.
As Poland experienced minus-22 degree
conditions, seven more deaths have been confirmed. Five were said to be
homeless people. Several people have also died in the Baltic states — the Czech
Republic, Serbia, Bosnia and Romania and Bulgaria — where until now
temperatures had been well above normal for midwinter. The heavy snow has
caused transport chaos across Europe. The German media reported the death of
one woman was a result of her losing control of her car on the icy roads.
Heavy-goods vehicles have been barred from the
freeways in Central Italy and cargo ships have been warned of ice floes on the
Danube. Even some areas of Romania’s Black sea coastline have reportedly frozen
over. Forecasters have confirmed that this area of high pressure has come from
Siberia.
“These kind of
weather conditions occur every 20 to 30 years, last time in 1986 and 1956,”
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