WARSAW: Freak blizzards and freezing weather over the first few days of spring have hit Europe and parts of the United States, causing fatal cases of hypothermia, power outages and transport chaos.
In Poland, five people have died from exposure since spring arrived on March 21 as overnight temperatures plunged to a bone-chilling minus 24 dgerees Celsius. This pushed the total death toll this month to 25.
Bad weather has also claimed at least two lives on the British mainland where media have dubbed the unseasonably icy month “Miserable March.”
The military was called into action yesterday to airdrop fodder to farms cut off by freak snow as thousands of homes remained without power for a fifth straight day. A Royal Air Force (RAF) helicopter was deployed in Northern Ireland in a bid to reach remote farms where up to 10,000 animals are believed to have been buried beneath snowdrifts six metres high. British bookmakers used to offering bets on a White Christmas now say a White Easter this weekend is more likely than not.
AFP
