Blizzards wreak havoc in Denmark, Finland, Sweden

[senorpepr]

STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Snow blizzards wreaked havoc in Denmark, Finland and Sweden, leaving at least two dead, 100,000 households without power and causing major delays in air, road and rail traffic.

The heavy, wet snowfall began Sunday, when a young couple were found drowned in their car after it apparently slid off the road into a canal in Vaenersborg, in southwestern Sweden.

More than 50 minor traffic accidents were reported across the country by Monday morning as gale force winds raged, and the number of accidents continued to grow throughout the day.

Numerous roads, including the Oslo-Stockholm highway, were blocked as heavy trucks jackknifed in icy conditions.

In addition, some 100,000 households in Sweden were without power after heavy snow brought down power lines.

"It is very difficult to say when (the electricity) will be working again, but most households should have it back at some point during the day," Christer Lundgren, a spokesman for the main electricity supplier, state-owned Vattenfall, told news agency TT on Monday.

By mid-afternoon, power was however restored to some 35,000 households.

The power outage also affected rail traffic, with at least 15 train cancellations and delays of up to 90 minutes on some routes.

At Stockholm's Arlanda airport, only one of two runways had been plowed and was in use, leading to delays of up to an hour.

"As soon as the wind stops and the snow slows a bit we will be able to increase capacity," civil aviation authority spokeswoman Anni Silfver told TT.

Ferry traffic in the region was also hit by the storms.

Some 300 passengers who left the Swedish port of Gothenburg on Sunday and who were due to arrive in Fredrikshavn in Denmark later that evening were forced to spend the night on the ferry at sea, as heavy winds prevented the vessel from docking.

"The entrance to the harbour is narrow and it is hard to maneuver when winds are blowing as much as 25 meters per second," Stena Line spokesman Joakim Kenndal said.

A Norwegian ferry carrying 850 passengers experienced similar difficulties at the Danish port of Hanstholm, but passengers from both ships were able to go ashore on Monday.

In Finland, ferries crossing the Baltic Sea were experiencing delays of more than one hour on Monday, while trains were delayed up to two hours due to heavy snow on the rails. Numerous pile-ups caused by poor visibility blocked the country's roads.

[senorpepr]