Belgrade, Serbia - Heavy snow and frigid temperatures have gripped large parts of Europe, leading to dozens of deaths, freezing rivers, the grounding of planes and traffic accidents.



Albania

Frigid weather has caused at least four deaths in the last three days In Albania. Snow stopped falling on Monday, but freezing temperatures continue to engulf the whole country.

A 52-year old Albanian man on Monday died in the town of Golem, 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of Tirana. On Sunday, a 53-year old street beggar was found dead in the city of Sarande south of the capital Tirana.

A day earlier, another 38-year old homeless person was found dead in the port city of Durres west of the capital. A 62 year old man died after sliding from a roof where he was trying to remove ice.

Scores of villages mainly in the north and northeast have been isolated and power and water cuts have been introduced, including the capital.

The health and education ministry decided to keep classes suspended for students.





Bulgaria

The situation in northeastern Bulgaria remains critical with heavy snow drifts on the roads, freezing temperatures and power outages that have affected some 2 000 households.

Emergency teams trying to clear the roads to remote villages were hindered by strong winds.

Authorities issued a Yellow Code alert for low temperatures across Bulgaria on Monday.

The cold spell was expected to continue until the end of the week.

Schools across the country remained closed on Monday.





Croatia

Freezing temperatures and strong winds have created havoc along Croatia's Adriatic coast, which isn't used to such cold winters.

Even the sea froze in shallow bays, trapping fishermen's boats to the amazement of locals who haven't seen anything like this in decades. The temperatures in Croatia's tourist centers of Dubrovnik and Split dropped to -7 C (19 F) and strong winds blew off ancient pine and olive trees on the coast.

Ferries and planes were grounded, and traffic over bridges banned. Water pipes, which are dug just below the surface as is the case in warm climates, have frozen, leaving thousands without running water as authorities tried to figure out ways to cope.





The Czech Republic

According to Czech public radio on Monday, six people are believed to have died of exposure during the latest cold snap, including in the capital, Prague. Meteorologists forecast freezing temperatures to continue in the coming days.





Greece

Swathes of Greece have been covered by snow, including several islands, some of which have seen more than a meter (more than three feet) of snow.

Temperatures in some parts of northern Greece have plunged to as low as -18 C (0 F). A state of emergency was declared in the municipality of Kymi on the island of Evia, Greece's second largest island after Crete, where the snow in some areas reached two meters (6.5 feet), leading to cuts to electricity and water supplies.

The small eastern Aegean island of Oinousses reported severe problems from the heavy snowfall, with the local mayor telling Greek media the island had been without landline telephone connections for four days. On the island of Lesbos, drivers needed snow chains to drive just outside the main port town of Mytilene, while heavy snowfall also hit Chios and parts of the southern island of Crete, from where some flights to Athens were cancelled.

Chios and Lesbos are home to thousands of refugees, many living in precarious conditions in severely overcrowded camps. Many are still living in tents despite the severe weather. Rights groups have slammed the conditions and called on the Greek government to act quickly to reduce overcrowding.





Italy

Schools were closed in a handful of southern Italy cities not accustomed to such heavy snowfall. Individual schools also closed in Rome and Bologna because heaters weren't working, news reports said.

The sub-freezing temperatures have been blamed for the deaths of at least eight people and have disrupted road, rail, air and ferry travel.





Kosovo

In Kosovo, snow continued to blanket the whole country and left many areas without power.

Police blamed the weather for the death Monday of an ethnic Albanian man whose body was found on a forest road.

Though all national roads were open, police advised careful driving and low speeds. Rural roads are either blocked or hard to drive. Power has been cut in many areas around the country.





Poland

The government says 10 people died in the cold Sunday as Poland has been gripped by low temperatures. The deaths bring to 65 the number of weather-related fatalities since Nov. 1, when temperatures started falling to freezing, especially at night.

The spokeswoman for the Government Center for Security, Anna Adamkiewicz, said Monday that the latest deaths occurred across the country, either outdoors or in unheated summer cottages and abandoned houses.

The victims were nine men between the ages of 32 and 69, and a 52-year-old woman.





Romania

Bucharest Mayor Gabriela Firea said inmates from two prisons would be put to work clearing snow alongside anti-riot police in the Romanian capital. The inmates working on snow removal are doing so voluntarily, Firea said.

She said the initiative would help clean up the capital's ice-clogged streets, which are only partially cleared.

Romania's Energy Minister Toma Petcu said neighboring Bulgaria had urgently asked for extra electricity, but the request was declined since the cold weather has stretched Romania's power grid.

Petcu said natural gas consumption in Romania could reach an all-time high Monday due to the frigid temperatures.





Russia

In Moscow, two people have died and 190 people with hypothermia have sought medical help in the Russian capital between New Year's Eve and Jan. 8, the last day of the holiday period in Russia, according to Russian news agencies quoting emergency medical official Sergei Gumenyuk.

The Russian Meteorological Service said the Orthodox Christmas Eve on Jan. 6 was the coldest in Moscow since 1987 when temperatures plunged below -31 C (-24 F). Moscow schools, however, opened on Monday after the holiday recess. In Russia's Urals, schools remained closed in the Tyumen, Khanty-Mansiysky, Sverdlovsk and Yamalo-Nenets regions where temperatures of -35 C (-31 F) were recorded.





Serbia

Serbian authorities have declared emergency measures in 11 municipalities in central and southern parts of the country as fresh snow and extremely low temperatures have blocked roads and cut off villages. Despite-28 C (-18 F), residents in remote villages on the rough Golija mountain have refused offers from authorities to evacuate their homes during the deep freeze because they won't abandon their animals.

The mostly elderly villagers said they'd rather freeze than abandon their sheep, goats, cows and chickens.

"We have wood and food for the animals," says Dragomir, one elderly resident. "We'll wait."





Switzerland

Police in the southern Swiss region of Valais say a Russian couple were killed and their two children aged 11 and 15 were gravely injured over the weekend after the vehicle they were travelling in tumbled about 225 meters (740 feet) along a snow-covered Alpine road.

Officials said the driver had been trying to park on the roadside, and snowy conditions appeared to have led to the deadly plunge into a pile of rocks. The two children were taken to a local hospital before being flown by helicopter to another in the capital, Bern. They were expected to survive, officials said.





Turkey

Turkish Airlines on Monday canceled 277 domestic and international flights to and from Istanbul's two airports due to heavy snow. Schools around Istanbul also were closed and the Istanbul governor's office said civil servants in the city would be able to leave work at 3:30 p.m. local time.

Istanbul schools will stay closed on Tuesday as snow continues to buffet the city, halting ferries on the Bosporus Strait that provide transportation for many commuters in the city straddling the narrow gap between Asia and Europe.

Television news showed cars slithering along slippery roads and students who had been given the day off staging snowball fights and tobogganing in parks blanketed in deep snow.

At a local coffee shop, stray cats trying to escape the cold snap lined up under heaters warming an outdoor terrace used by smokers.

Associated Press</s>Heavy snow and frigid temperatures have gripped large parts of Europe, leading to dozens of deaths, frozen rivers, the grounding of planes and traffic accidents. Heavy snow and frigid temperatures have gripped large parts of Europe, leading to dozens of deaths, frozen rivers, the grounding of planes and traffic accidents.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Independent.ie.</s>Visitors pose for a picture in front of the frozen Mirusha waterfalls near the village of Lapceve, Kosovo, Monday (AP photo)

WARSAW — A cold snap gripping Europe has killed more than 30 people in recent days, left thousands of travellers stranded in snow-covered Turkey and brought fresh misery for migrants and the homeless.

The double-digit sub-zero temperatures hit Poland particularly hard, with the mercury plummeting below minus 20°C in some regions.

Sunday was the country’s worst 24 hours so far for cold-related deaths.

“Yesterday, 10 people died of cold,” Poland’s centre for national security (RCB) said on Monday in a statement, adding to the same number of fatalities over the preceding two days combined.

The number of hypothermia victims has reached 65 since November 1, the centre added, and local authorities issued smog alerts across Poland amid a deep freeze on Monday.

Greece and Italy have also seen fierce cold weather over the past week and in both countries several migrants died of hypothermia.

Heavy snowfall in Turkey’s main city Istanbul paralysed traffic for a third straight day while the Bosphorus Strait, one of the world’s busiest shipping bottlenecks, was shut due to poor visibility.

Ferry services between the European and Asian sides of the city were scrapped and schools across the city closed.

Flagship carrier Turkish Airlines said 314 flights were cancelled on Monday, with CEO Bilal Eksi telling angry passengers that snow had caused a lack of take-off and landing slots at Ataturk Airport.

Some international flights were expected to resume after 6:00pm Monday, but all domestic flights to and from the airport had been scrapped. On a normal day, it can handle more than 1,500 landings and take-offs.

Eksi earlier said over 600 flights were cancelled on Sunday and more than 10,000 travellers unable to reach Istanbul had been put up in hotels worldwide.

In the Czech Republic, six people died during the weekend, very probably of hypothermia, four of them freezing to death in Prague, media reports said.

A 68-year-old homeless man was found frozen to death in the Macedonian capital Skopje while in Serbia, the southeastern town of Sjenica saw the mercury plunge to -33°C.

Traffic on the Danube and Sava rivers was halted in Serbia. Scores of migrants in the capital Belgrade took shelter in a warehouse near the railway station, spurning shelters provided by the government for fear they would be deported back to their countries.

“It’s very difficult, especially at night,” said Niamat, a 13-year-old Afghan. The temperature overnight was -15°C.

“I have been waiting here for three months and I do not know when I will be able to continue my journey,” said the young migrant, who is travelling alone.

Ismail, aged 16, added: “Nobody is helping us, it’s very cold and I’m worried how we will endure this.”

Schools were closed across cities in central Siberia on Monday but classes resumed in Moscow where the temperature rose by 7°C to -20°C.

The Russian capital recorded its coldest Orthodox Christmas Night for 120 years at the weekend, according to media reports.

Two people died of hypothermia in Moscow between December 31 and January 9, Russian news agencies reported.

Greece, with more than 60,000 mainly Syrian refugees on its territory, has moved many migrants to prefabricated houses and heated tents.

At the Moria refugee camp on the island of Lesbos more than 2,500 people are living in tents, without hot water or heating, including women, children and the handicapped, said Apostolos Veizis from the charity Doctors Without Borders.

He said there were more than 300 people in a similar situation on the island of Samos.

In Italy, the cold snap claimed two more lives: an 82-year-old man who died in a house without heating near the southern city of Brindisi and a 78-year-old man in a village in northern Sicily.</s>A cold snap gripping Europe has killed 10 more people in Poland, stranded thousands in snow-covered Turkey and brought fresh misery for both migrants and the homeless.

Double-digit sub-zero temperatures have claimed more than 30 lives over the past few days, many of them migrants or homeless people found frozen to death.

Sunday was the deadliest day this winter for cold-related deaths in Poland, where temperatures have plunged to below minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 Fahrenheit) in some regions.

"Yesterday, 10 people died of cold," Poland's centre for national security (RCB) said Monday in a statement, adding that "the number of hypothermia victims has reached 65," since November 1.

Heavy snowfall in Turkey's main city Istanbul paralysed traffic for a third straight day with the Bosphorus Strait closed to ships and hundreds of flights cancelled.

Ferry services between the European and Asian sides of the city were scrapped and schools across the city closed.

Flagship carrier Turkish Airlines said only 292 departures from Istanbul's Ataturk Airport were expected on Monday.

On a normal day, the airport can accommodate over 1,500 landings and take-offs.

Turkish Airlines CEO Bilal Eksi said more than 600 flights had been cancelled on Sunday and over 10,000 travellers unable to reach Istanbul had been put up in hotels worldwide.

A 68-year-old homeless man was found frozen to death in the Macedonian capital Skopje while in Serbia, the southeastern town of Sjenica saw the mercury plunge to -33 degrees Celsius.

- 'Nobody is helping us ' -

Traffic on the Danube and Sava rivers was halted in Serbia. Scores of migrants in the capital Belgrade took shelter in a warehouse near the railway station, spurning shelters provided by the government for fear they would be deported back to their countries.

"It's very difficult, especially at night," said Niamat, a 13-year-old Afghan. The temperature overnight was -15 degrees Celsius.

"I have been waiting here for three months and I do not know when I will be able to continue my journey," said the young migrant, who is travelling alone.

Ismail, aged 16, added: "Nobody is helping us, it's very cold and I'm worried how we will endure this."

Schools were closed across cities in central Siberia on Monday but classes resumed in Moscow where the temperature rose by seven degrees to -20 degrees Celsius.

The Russian capital recorded its coldest Orthodox Christmas Night for 120 years at the weekend, according to media reports.

Greece and Italy have also seen fierce cold weather over the past week and in both countries, several migrants have died of hypothermia.

With more than 60,000 mainly Syrian refugees on its territory, Greece has moved many migrants to prefabricated houses and heated tents.

On the island of Moria, there are "more than 2,500 people living in tents, without hot water or heating, including women, children and handicapped people," said Apostolos Veizis from the charity Doctors Without Borders.

He said there were more than 300 people in a similar situation on the island of Samos.

In Italy, the cold snap claimed two more lives: an 82-year-old man who died in a house without heating near the southern city of Brindisi and a 78-year-old man in a village in northern Sicily.</s>Warsaw - A cold snap gripping Europe has killed 10 more people in Poland, stranded thousands in snow-covered Turkey and brought fresh misery for both migrants and the homeless.

Double-digit sub-zero temperatures have claimed more than 30 lives over the past few days, many of them migrants or homeless people found frozen to death.

Sunday was the deadliest day this winter for cold-related deaths in Poland, where temperatures have plunged to below minus 20°C in some regions.

"Yesterday, 10 people died of cold," Poland's centre for national security (RCB) said on Monday in a statement, adding that "the number of hypothermia victims has reached 65," since November 1.

Heavy snowfall in Turkey's main city Istanbul paralysed traffic for a third straight day with the Bosphorus Strait closed to ships and hundreds of flights cancelled.

Ferry services between the European and Asian sides of the city were scrapped and schools across the city closed.

Flagship carrier Turkish Airlines said only 292 departures from Istanbul's Ataturk Airport were expected on Monday.

On a normal day, the airport can accommodate over 1 500 landings and take-offs.

Turkish Airlines CEO Bilal Eksi said more than 600 flights had been cancelled on Sunday and over 10 000 travellers unable to reach Istanbul had been put up in hotels worldwide.

A 68-year-old homeless man was found frozen to death in the Macedonian capital Skopje while in Serbia, the southeastern town of Sjenica saw the mercury plunge to -33°C.

'Nobody is helping us '

Traffic on the Danube and Sava rivers was halted in Serbia. Scores of migrants in the capital Belgrade took shelter in a warehouse near the railway station, spurning shelters provided by the government for fear they would be deported back to their countries.



"It's very difficult, especially at night," said Niamat, a 13-year-old Afghan. The temperature overnight was -15°C.

"I have been waiting here for three months and I do not know when I will be able to continue my journey," said the young migrant, who is travelling alone.

Ismail, aged 16, added: "Nobody is helping us, it's very cold and I'm worried how we will endure this."

Schools were closed across cities in central Siberia on Monday but classes resumed in Moscow where the temperature rose by seven degrees to -20°C.

The Russian capital recorded its coldest Orthodox Christmas Night for 120 years at the weekend, according to media reports.

Greece and Italy have also seen fierce cold weather over the past week and in both countries, several migrants have died of hypothermia.

With more than 60 000 mainly Syrian refugees on its territory, Greece has moved many migrants to prefabricated houses and heated tents</s>WARSAW: A cold snap gripping Europe has killed 10 more people in Poland, stranded thousands in snow-covered Turkey and brought fresh misery for both migrants and the homeless.

Double-digit sub-zero temperatures have claimed more than 30 lives over the past few days, many of them migrants or homeless people found frozen to death.

Sunday was the deadliest day this winter for cold-related deaths in Poland, where temperatures have plunged to below minus 20 degrees Celsius in some regions. "Yesterday, 10 people died of cold," Poland´s centre for national security (RCB) said Monday in a statement, adding that "the number of hypothermia victims has reached 65," since November 1.

Heavy snowfall in Turkey´s main city Istanbul paralysed traffic for a third straight day with the Bosphorus Strait closed to ships and hundreds of flights cancelled.

Deaths, travel chaos in Europe cold snap was posted in World of TheNews International - https://www.thenews.com.pk on January 10, 2017 and was last updated on January 10, 2017. This news story is related to Print/178053-Deaths-travel-chaos-in-Europe-cold-snap/ - breaking news, latest news, pakistan ne. Permanent link to the news story "Deaths, travel chaos in Europe cold snap" is https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/178053-Deaths-travel-chaos-in-Europe-cold-snap.</s>These pictures show the effects of the lethal wave of freezing weather that swept across Europe over the weekend.

More than a dozen people died as snow and ice left villages without power, froze rivers and even parts of the Adriatic Sea, and grounded flights across the continent.

Serbian authorities have declared emergency measures in nine municipalities in central and southern parts of the country amid fresh snow and extremely low temperatures.

Emergency officials said on Monday that more than 120 people and 70 vehicles have been evacuated overnight in the hardest-hit south of the country where 3m snowdrifts have formed.

Heavy snow and polar temperatures diving to -30 degrees Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit) in some areas gripped parts of Europe last week.

Serbia's authorities have banned river traffic on the Danube and Sava rivers due to ice and wind. Authorities say the country's Velika Morava river was frozen for the first time in two decades.</s>WARSAW
• A cold snap gripping Europe has killed 10 more people in Poland, stranded thousands in snow-covered Turkey and brought fresh misery for both migrants and the homeless.

Double-digit sub-zero temperatures have claimed more than 30 lives over the past few days, many of them migrants or homeless people found frozen to death.

Sunday was the deadliest day this winter for cold-related deaths in Poland, where temperatures have plunged to below minus 20 deg C in some regions.

On Sunday, 10 people died of cold, Poland's centre for national security said yesterday in a statement, adding that "the number of hypothermia victims has reached 65" since Nov 1.

Heavy snowfall in Turkey's main city Istanbul paralysed traffic for a third straight day, with the Bosporus closed to ships and hundreds of flights cancelled.

Traffic on the Danube and Sava rivers was halted in Serbia. Scores of migrants in the capital Belgrade took shelter in a warehouse, spurning shelters provided by the government for fear they would be deported back to their countries.

Schools were closed across cities in central Siberia yesterday, but classes resumed in Moscow where the temperature rose by seven degrees to minus 20 deg C.

Greece and Italy have also seen fierce cold weather over the past week and several migrants there have died of hypothermia.</s>Migrants queue up for food in front of an abandoned warehouse in Belgrade, Serbia, on Sunday. Extremely cold weather continued for a fourth day in a row in most of Eastern Europe, with snow blizzards and dangerously low temperatures leaving over a dozen dead, villages cut off and causing power outages. Pope Francis in his prayer asked God to “warm our hearts, so we’ll help.” The homeless and the migrants are just left to the mercy of nature. | Photo Credit: AP

Blizzards and dangerously low temperatures persisted in parts of Europe on Sunday, prompting Pope Francis to draw attention to the homeless suffering in freezing weather. In Serbia, aid workers scrambled to help hundreds of migrants sleeping rough in parks and makeshift shelters.

The extreme winter weather that has gripped Europe in the past days has caused more than a dozen deaths, left villages cut off, caused power and water outages, frozen rivers and lakes, grounded flights and led to road accidents.

Two men died of cold in Poland on Saturday, bringing the nation’s death toll from winter weather to 55 since November 1, authorities said on Sunday. Temperatures dropped to minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 22 Fahrenheit) in the mountains of southern Poland.

In Italy, eight deaths were blamed on the cold, including that off a man who died in the basement of an unused building in Milan, and another one on a street flanking Florence’s Arno River. Pope Francis asked God to “warm our hearts, so we’ll help” the homeless.

In Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, several hundred men, mostly from Afghanistan and Pakistan, remained in an abandoned customs warehouse by the city’s bus station, where aid organisations distributed heaters, blankets, clothes and food in an attempt to keep them warm.

“We are all working together to help these people,” Mirjana Milenkovski, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency, said.

While most of the several thousand migrants in Serbia have stayed in the Balkan country’s asylum centres, hundreds have refused to do so, looking for ways to move on toward western Europe.

In neighbouring Bulgaria, police said two men from Iraq and a Somali woman died from cold in the mountains near Turkey as they tried to make their way toward Europe. Many in the Belgrade warehouse were sick after few days in extreme cold, aid workers said.

“The next few days are critical, and for sure the health condition of these people is worsening,” said Stephane Moissaing, MSF Head of Mission in Serbia.

Elsewhere, dozens of villages in Serbia’s remote south-western Pestar region were sealed off by heavy snow, prompting the evacuation of some 100 people by emergency crews. Numerous villages in northern Bulgaria also were left without electricity and water. Power outages were also reported throughout the region.

Polar temperatures of between minus 15 and minus 26 degrees Celsius (5 and minus 15 Fahrenheit) saw ice forming on the Adriatic sea and the Danube, while countless smaller rivers, lakes and ponds froze.

Montenegro’s port of Bar in southern Adriatic closed down on Saturday, while sea traffic was suspended for days in neighbouring Croatia.

Police in Bulgaria said a passenger train derailed on Sunday after it hit a pile of snow in the central part of the country. Snow fell on Istanbul, Turkey, for the third straight day, and Turkish Airlines grounded hundreds of flights in and out of the city’s two airports.

A dozen major roads remained closed in Romania due to heavy snow and some ferry services between Romania and Bulgaria across the Danube were cancelled. Authorities said schools would be closed on Monday and Tuesday in many areas, including in the capital, Bucharest.

Four Portuguese nationals were killed when a bus skidded on an icy road in eastern France early Sunday. The road is notorious for fatal accidents.

Black ice across northern and western Germany has caused countless accidents and injuries. Firefighters in the city of Hamburg said on Sunday they were called to weather-related accidents 415 times during the weekend.

Near Hannover, one person died in a car accident when his car skidded against a tree on an icy road, German news agency DPA reported. City authorities shut down the public transportation system and across the country, people were asked to wait out the severe weather conditions at home.

For hundreds of Muscovites, however, the fact that the temperature had plunged to minus 27 Celsius (minus 17 Fahrenheit) was no reason to avoid going for a group bicycle ride. About 500 cyclists, many equipped with fur hats and other non-standard gear, held a ride of about eight kilometres (five miles) along the Moscow River on Sunday as the capital shivered through a fierce cold snap.</s>A cold wave across Europe has left at least 20 people dead in the past two days, including several homeless and migrants, authorities said Saturday, with the frigid temperatures expected to continue through the weekend.

 Russia meanwhile celebrated the coldest Orthodox Christmas in 120 years, and Istanbul was covered with a blanket of snow.

 Ten of the latest victims of the cold perished in Poland where sub-freezing conditions remain with minus 14 degrees Celsius (seven degrees Fahrenheit) forecast on Saturday.

 “Seven people died on Friday in what was the deadliest day this winter,” said spokeswoman Bozena Wysocka from the Polish government centre for security (RCB).

 “We recorded three other victims the previous day,” she said. “This takes to 53 the number of hypothermia victims since November 1.”

 In Italy in the past 48 hours the cold has been blamed for seven deaths, including five homeless people, two of them Polish nationals, authorities said.

 There was heavy snowfall in central Italy and also in the southeast where the airports at Bari and Brindisi as well as in Sicily were closed Saturday morning.

 Temperatures in Moscow fell to minus 30 degrees overnight and to minus 24 in Saint Petersburg where police found the body of a man who had died of hypothermia.

 And in Bulgaria on Friday the frozen bodies of two Iraqi migrants were discovered by villagers in a mountain forest in the southeast of the country near the border with Turkey.

 Authorities expect the toll to rise as weather conditions are set to remain unchanged this weekend.

 The winter snow storms reached Turkey, paralysing its biggest city Istanbul where hundreds of flights were cancelled on Saturday. Traffic through the Bosphorus strait was also disrupted.

 Greece likewise has seen fierce cold weather this past week. In the north near the Turkish frontier a 20-year-old Afghan migrant died of the cold on Tuesday.

 With more than 60,000 mainly Syrian refugees on its territory, Greece has moved many migrants to prefabricated houses and heated tents.

 The temperature in Athens on Saturday was zero degrees Celsius and down to minus 15 in the north of the country.

 The coldest temperature in Europe so far this winter was recorded on Friday in the Swiss village of La Brevine at minus 29.9 degrees.

 That was still much warmer than the village’s record of the coldest temperature ever in Switzerland at minus 41.8 degrees on January 12, 1987.—AFP
Dozens of people die in eastern Europe and Italy in recent days as a result of a cold snap with cancelled flights, frozen rivers, and traffic accidents.