Storm strands buses, planes, trains on East Coast

A powerful East Coast blizzard marooned thousands of would-be air, rail and road travelers Monday, shutting down major airports and rail lines for a second day, stranding buses on buried highways, and forcing New York City subway riders to spend a cold night in unheated trains.

 

Officials urged anyone who did not have to drive to stay off roads in the region, where high winds pushed snow into deep drifts across streets, railroads and runways. More than two feet of snow had fallen in some areas by Monday morning.

The New York area took the brunt of a storm that meandered across the country over the Christmas weekend before plowing up the East Coast. States of emergency were declared in at least six states from the Carolinas on north. Jets got snowed in on the tarmac or never left the gate.

"People are exhausted. ... They want to get home," said Eric Schorr, 22, who was trying to get from New York City to Tel Aviv on Sunday night but ended up spending about nine hours stuck on the tarmac at Kennedy Airport, finally ending back in the airport around 3 a.m. His flight was rescheduled for 7 p.m.

Similar delays have produced outrage in the past, but Schorr said he and his fellow travelers were "as comfortable as you can be on a plane," with the crew passing out drinks and serving dinner.

Authorities had to rescue hundreds of motorists across the region, including about 100 people trying to get back to New York from a gambling trip to Atlantic City, some of them diabetic or elderly. As 5-foot drifts piled up on the road, state troopers took water and food to passengers who were feeling ill.

"Most of the people are pretty calm, but they are getting antsy," state trooper Chris Menello, who raided his personal stash of food for the gamblers, said early Monday as the rescues unfolded in Monmouth County.

Wind gusts as high as 80 mph knocked out power to thousands. Airlines scrambled to rebook passengers on thousands of canceled flights but said they didn't expect normal service to resume until later in the week. Amtrak service was trickling back after being knocked out from New York to Boston.

Hundreds of cold, hungry and tired air passengers spent the night at Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty airports. Officials said they were provided blankets and cots, but some travelers were not allowed to retrieve their checked luggage, leaving them with no extra clothing or toiletries.

Jason Cochran, of Manhattan, boarded his flight to London at 6 p.m. Sunday at Kennedy, but it missed its takeoff window as high winds set in, he said. Passengers were told they would be sent to hotels but were given only food vouchers — and then vendors began running out of provisions. Source : http://news.yahoo.com , Associated Press

Heavy Snow Blasts France, Scotland

 

 

Heavy snow in Paris on Wednesday shut down the city's main airport, its bus system and the  Eiffel Tower. Elsewhere in Europe, bad weather caused travel chaos in Scotland, and a child's body was found after a flash flood in Spain.

In Paris, where heavy snowfall is unusual, the snow reached 4 inches, weather service Meteo France said. It quickly turned into a slushy mess, and vehicles skidded on unplowed roads.

Flights in and out of Paris' Charls de Gaulle were suspended for about an hour and a half Wednesday afternoon, the city's airport authority said. When it reopened, only one of four runways was in use. At both Paris airports, flights were delayed by up to three hours.

All buses in the capital stopped running, as did many suburban buses, the city's RATP transit authority said.

The Eiffel Tower was shut to tourists around midday, the monument's press service said. Officials said they couldn't sprinkle salt on the tower's floors because of concerns it could damage the iron structure.

Simone Laloum, at work in a shoe shop near Paris' famous Champs-Elysees avenue, said she watched from inside as many people slipped and fell on the streets.

"We are not prepared here for the snow in Paris, not equipped," she said. "People don't want to go out, they're scared of falling. It doesn't get cleaned up."

In Scotland, the first minister said everything possible was being done to keep the country moving in "exceptional conditions."

Road and rail journeys were once again plunged into chaos by the severe cold, and a 20-mile stretch of Scotland's busiest road, between Edinburgh and Glasgow, was closed.

Meanwhile, in Spain the Interior Ministry said rescuers had found the body of a 9-year-old boy who drowned in a flash flood, as torrential rains lashed parts of central and southern Spain.

The ministry said the child had been traveling Tuesday with his brother and father when their vehicle was overwhelmed by water from the Alcudia River near the south-central city of Ciudad Real. It said divers found the body Wednesday.

Elsewhere in Spain, around 100 homes in Cordoba were evacuated out of fear the Guadalquivir River would burst its banks. Another 150 families had to leave their homes in Lora del Rio in neighboring Seville province.

In Paris, in a sign of how a little snow catches the city off guard, Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux called a news conference about the weather. He said an additional 5,000 police, including 2,000 in the Paris metropolitan region alone, were deployed to help keep trouble on the roadways to a minimum.

As Hortefeux spoke, his children were in the ministry's backyard, at work on a snowman. Source : http://www.usatoday.com