Extreme weather in Europe

Homes evacuated and journeys disrupted by flooding

Hundreds of people have been told to evacuate their homes and millions of motorists and rail passengers have had their Christmas getaway disrupted by heavy rain and flooding.

The Telegraph,

22 December, 2012

­The Environmental Agency has now issued six severe flood warnings in - the highest category of alert - meaning there is risk to life.

The warnings are in Devon and on the River Cober, in Cornwall, where 200 people in Helston and Lostwithiel have been told to leave their homes amid fears that a combination of torrential rain and high tide could breach defences in the next few hours.

At least 50 properties in the area have already been flooded.

A further 539 flood warnings and flood alerts are in place across England and Wales while in Scotland, 17 flood warnings - mostly in Tayside - and 15 flood warnings were issued by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

The heavy and prolonged rain affected rail services on Saturday, with First Great Western advising passengers to avoid journeys west of Taunton in Somerset because of flooding and landslips.

Arriva Trains Wales told passengers to avoid any rail travel in South Wales.

Both operators were using road vehicles to transport passengers, but efforts were hampered by a lack of vehicles and flooded roads.

East Midlands Trains suspended services between Derby and Nottingham because of flooding, while there were no trains between Stirling and Perth.

The Highways Agency said there were a handful of flooding incidents affecting roads, including the closure of the A21 in both directions near Battle, East Sussex.

A spokesman said: "There have been isolated weather-related incidents on other parts of our network today but traffic at these locations remains generally free flowing."

Some 14 Football League matches were also postponed due to waterlogged pitches, including the Championship game between Blackburn and Brighton.

The wet and windy weather is expected to persist throughout the Christmas period, with further rain falling on saturated ground likely to lead to more flooding.

The Met Office released amber weather warnings, which mean "be prepared", for heavy rain and strong winds across south-west England, Yorkshire and Humber, Wales, central Scotland and the Grampians until Sunday morning.

Tony Conlan, a forecaster with MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "We've had a band of heavy rain across the country, with south-west England and South Wales the worst affected.

"We could be getting figures of 70mm-80mm (2.8in-3.2in) in places by the end of the day.

"In the daytime tomorrow there will be further rain for the bulk of Scotland but most of the country will be dry and mild.

"But there's a likelihood of another area of heavy rain tomorrow night moving across all of southern England, potentially increasing the problems in south-west England."

An estimated 15 million people are expected to take to the roads this weekend as they travel for the Christmas break.

Patrick McLoughlin, the Transport Secretary, said: "Exceptional weather conditions are having a serious impact on the transport network at what is already a difficult time of year.

"The Highways Agency and Network Rail have emergency staff working round the clock to keep motorways and rail tracks open where it is safe to do so while train operators are working hard to keep services running.

"We urge people travelling through the most affected areas to plan ahead and check the latest travel information. We will continue to ensure everything possible is being done to help people get to where they need to be for Christmas."

After heavy rain overnight on Friday, the town of Braunton in north Devon was effectively cut off with homes and shops under water after the River Caen burst its banks.

Seven homes in Colebrook and 15 people in Plymouth were also evacuated overnight after the river Long Brook burst its banks.

In Dorset a number of motorists were rescued after becoming trapped in their vehicles by floods. One man was trapped in his car for five hours during the night.

Many rivers, including the Severn, Trent, Yorkshire Ouse and Derwent are continuing to rise following the heavy downpours.

In Scotland flooding from rivers and surface water is also expected to hit areas many central regions of the country.

A signalling problem on the train line near Brighton has caused severe disruption to trains south of London, including those going to Gatwick Airport.

VisitEngland said that over the festive period as many as 12 million Britons intend to take at least one trip in the UK involving an overnight stay.

Two main line rail strikes that threatened travel chaos over the Christmas period have been called off.

But on the London Underground, the train drivers' union Aslef is stopping work on Boxing Day in a strike that has already led to the postponement of the London football derby between Arsenal and West Ham United.

Apart from the Aslef Tube strike, the main train problem is likely to be engineering work on the West Coast line.

This will mean there will be no direct services from Euston station in London to Milton Keynes, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool or Glasgow on December 23 and 24.

Hourly services will run from Euston via an alternative route (Chilterns) to Nuneaton where passengers will be able to change for services heading to any and all the destinations mentioned above.

Direct services resume on December 27 but with two of the four lines closed up to and including New Year's Eve.

There is engineering work affecting a number of other lines, although Network Rail and the Association of Train Operating Companies have said that the number of replacement buses having to be laid on has almost halved compared with the 2011/12 festive period.

Despite the weather shoppers came out in force, with consumers set spend up to £5 billion over the last weekend before Christmas, according to the British Retail Consortium.

Shopping centres reported record numbers on Saturday, as up to 13 million people braved the downpours to spend around £2.8 billion.

Winter solstice brings deadly cold wave to northern Europe

Terra Daily,

22 December, 2012

A vicious cold snap across Russia and eastern Europe has claimed nearly 200 lives, officials figures showed Friday, as forecasters warned it would last until Christmas Eve.

In Russia, the cold has killed two people in the past 24 hours, the Ria-Novosti agency reported, citing medical sources, bringing the total number of deaths over the past week to 56.

The freeze had also left 371 people in hospital.

Thermometers have been stuck below minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 Fahrenheit) in Moscow -- and below minus 50 degrees (minus 58 F) in some parts of Siberia -- for a week.

Russian weather forecasters said temperature in the Khabarovsk region in eastern Russia had dropped to minus 43 Celsius, while Krasnoyarsk in Siberia reported minus 47.

This "abnormal" frost would last till Monday because of a persistent anticyclone, they added.

In Russia's European region, meanwhile, the mercury is expected to fall to minus 31 degrees Celsius on Christmas Eve before rising rapidly afterwards.

Other European countries hit hard by the extreme temperatures were counting the toll as temperatures gradually started to return to normal.

Authorities in Ukraine, which has been battling heavy snowfall for weeks, said 83 people had died of cold, with 57 of the victims found on the street.

The homeless are traditionally the hardest-hit by the region's bitter winters.

Another 526 cold victims were reportedly receiving hospital treatment in Ukraine.

Overnight temperatures in Ukraine reached an average minus 15 degrees Celsius, which is common at this time of year.

Ukrainian authorities said 93 villages -- mainly on the Crimean peninsula in the south of the country -- were still hit by a power outage.

In eastern Europe, police in Poland said Friday that 49 people had died of exposure this month, with most of the victims homeless, as temperatures plunged to minus 10 degrees Celsius.

At least six people have died of exposure in Lithuania in the past weeks, police and emergency services said there.

In Latvia, temperatures reached minus 14 Celsius on Friday morning. In the capital Riga, authorities decided to drop public transport fares to encourage drivers to leave their cars at home and prevent crashes and jams.

On Christmas Eve temperatures in Latvia are expected to drop to minus 28 Celsius, a record low.

In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, temperatures hovered around zero on Friday.

Czech police said several people had died of exposure in recent weeks, but no overall statistics were available for the country.