Heavy snowfall, extreme ice - the highest level of warning is in effect in many parts of Germany. Central and southern Germany were particularly affected. All flights at Frankfurt Airport have been suspended.
Slippery roads and sidewalks – in southwestern Germany, freezing rain froze the roads this Wednesday (January 17.1) morning. The German Meteorological Service warns of a very high risk of ice due to freezing rain in many German provinces.
During the day, you should avoid being outdoors and driving, because there is a great risk of injuries and accidents, meteorologists said.
A red alert is in effect throughout Bavaria, in some parts the situation is even more critical, there is a purple alert in effect. As the authorities warn, power outages or interruptions in mobile communication are also possible. In many Bavarian cities and districts, school classes were canceled due to heavy snowfall.
Police in the states of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and the Saarland, located in the extreme southwest of Germany, on the border with France, have already reported many traffic accidents. For now, however, it was mainly about material damages. On the A6 highway in the Saar region, vehicles stood for three hours in the cold after an accident in which several cars were involved due to the slippery asphalt. In that province alone, more than 80 traffic accidents were recorded by noon.
A warning has also been issued for the southern parts of North Rhine-Westphalia due to heavy snowfall. Schools in the regions of Aachen, Cologne, Olpe and Vinterberg remained closed as a precaution. In Hesse, there are also no classes in many schools.
Canceled flights, trains, buses
Almost 600 of the 1.047 scheduled flights have already been canceled at Frankfurt am Main airport, Germany's largest air traffic hub. In the midday hours, all take-offs had to be temporarily suspended due to incessant freezing rain. The planes could no longer de-ice safely, said a spokesman for the Fraport company, which manages the airport.
In Munich, 254 of the planned 650 take-offs and landings were cancelled. Zaarbrucken Airport has suspended operations until further notice, and there are also disruptions at Berlin Airport.
Travelers must also expect major disruptions in rail and bus traffic. The German railway, Deutsche Bahn, has issued appropriate warnings on its websites. As a precautionary measure, the maximum speed of ICE high-speed trains has been reduced to 200 kilometers per hour. Many ICE trains between Stuttgart or Frankfurt and the French capital Paris do not run.
Snow and freezing rain also hit the French border area with Germany. There were accidents and traffic disruptions, and in the French provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, goods vehicles were prohibited from driving on the main routes.
In the northern part of France, the weather warning applies to the 31st department. Locally, up to 20 centimeters of snow and difficult traffic on the roads are expected.
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