Heavy snowfall in the French Alps leaves 15,000 drivers stranded, prompting officials to open emergency shelters and urge travellers to stay home. Heavy snowfall in the French Alps has left around 15,000 drivers stranded, prompting officials to open emergency shelters and urge travellers to stay home. The snow hit as a rush of holidaymakers were heading to and leaving from ski resorts in the Savoie region in south-eastern France, where authorities set up shelters in at least 12 towns. The snow and freezing rain also caused the death of a 27-year-old man, whose car slid into a ravine in the Belledonne mountain range. Frances interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve in a statement urged drivers to exercise the utmost caution and asked those who could delay their trips to do so. The country declared an orange weather alert - one step under the maximum red alert - in 19 departments. Frances meteorological services said they expected more snowfall and significant re-freezing Saturday night and warned of slippery roads. Elsewhere in France it was wind and not snow that wrought havoc for holiday travellers. Storms packing gusts of up to 160 kilometres per hour forced the temporary closure of Frances port of Calais on the English Channel and the suspension of car ferries to and from Britain. A few kilometres outside the industrial northern city, thousands of illegal migrants living in makeshift camps struggled through a second night of freezing temperatures. The conditions outside are hellish in the jungles, said David Lacour, director of SolidR, which is running a care centre to help migrants survive the cold. The storm blew away a lot of tents - some now have nothing. Up to 2,300 migrants are thought to be in Calais and surrounding areas, where they live in flimsy tents waiting for a change to complete their final journey to Britain. This is a good shelter here, people help us a lot. It is difficult to survive in the jungle, 23-year-old Eritrean Petrus said. Strong winds also forced the closure of the gardens of the famed Chateau de Versailles (Palace of Versailles) near Paris. hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index.php?pageid=event_desc&edis_id=SS-20141228-46466-FRA
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 09:29:59 +0000
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