Trains held up, roads closed as France braces for heavy snow

[senorpepr]

PARIS (AFP) - Snow showers in northern France interrupted train service and forced police to close motorways, as the national weather service warned that intense snowfalls could hit many parts of the country.

The national railway SNCF announced that service was disrupted between the western city of Rennes and Paris as a result of the storms, with trains expected to run 20 to 40 minutes behind schedule until 6:00 pm (1700 GMT) Monday.

Authorities in the French capital have put an emergency weather plan into effect and have urged motorists to take special care due to possible black ice on the roads.

Meteo France, which has issued a level-three storm warning in the Paris area on a four-level scale, is predicting accumulation of between five and 10 centimeters (two to four inches) outside the city.

Police ordered truck drivers off a 40-kilometre (25-mile) stretch of the A72 motorway for five hours in hilly country between the cities of Clermont-Ferrand and Saint-Etienne, where up to 10 centimeters of snow fell early in the day.

Sections of motorways in Normandy and Brittany on France's northwest coast were closed to traffic, and trucks were barred from several smaller highways.

Snow was also expected from Normandy to the Massif Central, with temperatures falling as low as four degrees below zero (25 Fahrenheit) in northeast France.