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21. 12. 09. - 14:00

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21. 12. 09. - 14:00

More weather warnings as freeze causes chaos

By William Green

Forecasters have warned of more treacherous weather on the way after freezing temperatures and snow and ice left three people frozen to death and caused transport chaos this weekend.

Drifting snow and iced-over rails caused numerous cancellations and delays in rail passenger traffic yesterday (Sun) in the greater Vienna area.

A spokeswoman for Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) said railway workers had been out in force to distribute tea and coffee among stranded passengers at city railway stations and claimed at midday that things were slowly improving.

Four Vienna tram lines, the 18, D, 62 und O lines, were disrupted by the conditions.

Car club ÖAMTC reported yesterday it had been called out to 1,900 operations in Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland to help drivers in distress on Saturday. A club spokeswoman said the number had been twice as high as normal and 95 per cent of calls for help had been caused by dead car batteries.

The spokeswoman said the number of calls for help had increased rapidly after 10am yesterday morning.

The bad weather also led to a number of serious traffic accidents over the weekend.

Five people were injured yesterday morning in Tschagguns, Vorarlberg when a car driven by a 23-year-old man went off a snow-packed road and rolled 15-metres down an embankment. The injured were taken to Bludenz hospital.

Heavy snow caused two accidents and left six people hurt in southern Burgenland on Saturday. A 29-year-old woman lost control of her car on the B 63 between Dürnbach and Großpetersdorf in Oberwart district and skidded into a vehicle driven by a 29-year-old man. All three were injured and taken to hospital.

And a 22-year-old man lost control of his car on the L108 and ran into a car driven by a 70-year-old man at the intersection of the L108 and the B65 highways. Both men and the older man’s wife were injured but were able to return home after receiving out-patient treatment at nearby hospitals.

There were also minor numerous traffic accidents in Styria on Saturday, police reported.

A spokesman for Austrian motorway builder and maintainer Asfinag said temperatures below minus 10 degrees Celsius and extremely dry, fine snow made it difficult for salt strewn on highways and roads to take effect and melt ice and packed-snow.

Chains were made mandatory on some Carinthian highways Saturday as a result of heavy, drifting snow.

Three people froze to death in Austria over the weekend as temperatures plummeted to below minus 20 degrees Celsius in many areas.

A 59-year old man was found frozen in a field by a hunter yesterday (Sun) morning near Werfen in Salzburg’s Pongau and 19-year-old man from Oberhaag in Leibnitz district was found frozen to death in the middle of a field in the same day.

A 43-year-old plumber froze to death on Friday night near Mühldorf in Styria’s Feldbach district. Police said he had left a dicso to walk 1.5 kilometres home the night before.

Meanwhile Rail links in the Vienna area suffered and there were scores of accidents as Austria was hit by harsh winter weather.

Weather forecasters are predicting temperatures will rise above freezing in many areas tomorrow but that freezing rain caused by warmer air moving in from the southwest may make highways and roads extremely slippery and dangerous.

Austrian Times

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