Freak
Russian blizzard: Mad snow storm swallows cars, streets, buildings in
Far East
RT,
3
December, 2014
Winter
has come with a vengeance: Russia’s snow-and-ice-bound Far East
regions have declared states of emergency. Traffic chaos is rife,
with cars stuck or sliding uncontrollably. Residents are trying to
push cars, and also stop them with their bodies.
The
cold and snowy season began in Russia's Far East – including the
cities of Vladivostok and Khabarovsk – on Dec. 1, the first day of
winter proper according to the calendar. Yet municipal services were
not ready to deal with weather conditions, people on social networks
complained.
Snowfall
in Khabarovsk – reportedly the heaviest in decades – forced the
city authorities to announce the state of emergency and call in
military to aid with the storm's aftermath.
Harsh
weather conditions caused traffic to come to a standstill, with
people being unable to use either public transport or their own cars.
Challenged
to not only find and then dig their cars out from under the snow,
drivers also had to push their vehicles when they were stuck on snow
and ice-covered roads, as well as stopping them from moving
uncontrollably.
In
Vladivostok, cars were sliding down the road, crashing into other
vehicles, with drivers trying to stop cars, including a truck, with
their bodies. A YouTube video showed a dozen cars being damaged in an
icy frenzy.
The
large-scale cyclone brought a month-and-a-half of snowfall in just
one day in Khabarovsk, where uncleared roads caused bread shortages
in local shops, which were inaccessible to delivery trucks. The
situation was made worse by abandoned vehicles on the roads, left by
their owners, unable to deal with the snow.
Power
cutoffs were reported in several areas, due to broken wires. Some
10,000 people, rescuers included, were dealing with the storm, having
helped over 1,100 cars, 44 buses and 40 heavy trucks, the local
Emergencies Ministry reported.
Thousands
of kilometers to the west, the first winter snow – a much lighter
one – was more welcome in Moscow, the Russian capital. It helped
clear the air of pollution, Tass news agency reported, with worrying
air contamination being caused by several emission releases over the
past month.
Temperature
anomalies globally
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