Deadly cold and heavy snowfall continued to sweep across Europe on Thursday, snarling traffic and causing at least 18 deaths in Poland and other countries.
Heavy snow and freezing temperatures were causing major disruptions on air, rail and road networks in northern Europe.
Air travel was upended. Gatwick Airport, one of Britain's busiest, was closed for a second straight day, canceling another 600 flights as conditions continued to deteriorate. Edinburgh Airport and London's City Airport were also closed until at least late evening, according to Eurocontrol, the air traffic agency.
Significant delays also hit airports at London Heathrow, Charles de Gaulle in Paris, Amsterdam's Schiphol, Berlin's Tegel and Duesseldorf. In Geneva, the airport reopened only after removing 2,000 tractor-trailers full of snow from the runways.
Half of the high-speed trains between major cities in Europe have been canceled and speed restrictions on lines in Britain were expected to delay those trains that were running.
Snow and black ice also caused thousands of road accidents and major traffic gridlocks across Europe.
Some 11,000 accidents occurred Wednesday in Britain, a record high, while roads in Belgium were paralysed Thursday by a 300-km traffic jam.
More than 17,000 trucks abandoned their journey in some parts of France.
At least 18 homeless people died of exposure in Poland, where temperatures dropped to minus 26 Celsius degrees, and eight others died in Central and Eastern Europe.
Due to the extreme cold, homeless shelters are overcrowded and some military barracks in Belgium had to open their doors to homeless people.
Authorities declared a state of emergency in three Balkan countries on Thursday _ Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro _ and were evacuating hundreds of people after heavy rainfall caused severe flooding along the Drina River _ the worst in 104 years, officials said.
Authorities in Berlin kept subway stations, soup kitchens and heated buses open all night to provide shelter for the city's homeless. Thousands in Germany had to sleep overnight on trains _ either stuck by the wild weather or due to a lack of hotel rooms.
Southeastern Denmark was also badly hit, and heavy snowfalls and icy winds severely hampered road and rail traffic. The Danish army used tracked armored personnel carriers to help ambulances and other emergency vehicles cut their way through mounds of snow.
A deep freeze gripped Sweden, with the lowest temperatures overnight Thursday measuring minus 29.6 Celsius (minus 85.3 Fahrenheit) in Lillhardal in the center of the country.
The unusual weather was being caused by high pressure over Greenland and Scandinavia and low pressure in the Baltic States, which generate cold wind and snowfalls.
Britain has been one of the worst-hit countries with its earliest widespread snowfall in 17 years.
VietNamNet/Xinhuanet
