Storm Wreaks Havoc Around the Black Sea

[senorpepr]

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - A massive storm lashed some regions around the Black Sea and eastern Mediterranean on Saturday, with parts of southeastern Europe blanketed by the biggest snow fall in two decades.

As the storm swept east, it drove cargo ships onto rocky shorelines, stranded motorists and downed power lines. At least 10 people died in weather-related incidents.

Blizzard-like conditions in the past three days stretched from the eastern Ukraine and into the Bosporus in Turkey. Further south, it touched off dust storms in northern Africa, affecting residents from Libya through Egypt and into the southern Middle East, said Dale Mohler, the director of international forecasting at AccuWeather.

"The intensity of it was close to the strength of a minimal hurricane that you would see typically along the east coast of the United States," Mohler said.

In Turkey, at least five people froze to death over the past two days, including two school children walking home from school.

Thousands of roads and some highways remained closed there on Saturday, and authorities in Istanbul urged motorists not to travel without chains. The Bosporus - a key outlet for Russia and other Black Sea states - reopened for shipping Saturday after the storms closed it down for two days.

In the Czech Republic, temperatures dropped to minus 26 Fahrenheit early Saturday, Czech authorities said. Three people died in weather related incidents.

Meanwhile, the snow kept falling in Romania, where blizzards blocked at least 50 roads, stranding travelers and leaving tens of thousands of homes without electricity in what authorities said was the worst snowfall in 20 years.

Police found a shepherd who had frozen to death near the city of Constanta, about 150 miles east of Bucharest. In the Danube port of Galati, a man trapped in his car suffered a heart attack due to the cold.

Five diplomats returning to Romania after attending a meeting in neighboring Moldova were stranded at a border crossing checkpoint between the two countries. The diplomats were from France, Jordan, Indonesia and Libya.

Three Black Sea ports in Romania remained closed for the third consecutive day, because of winds gusting up to 75 mph. Navigation on parts of the Danube was stopped.

In the Middle East, high winds and waves drove two cargo ships into rocky shores in northern Syria, causing extensive damage to the vessels but no injuries among crew members who were safely evacuated, port officials said Saturday.

Winds reached 62 miles an hour, whipping up 15-foot waves. The storm caused heavy rainfall and dumped snow in parts of neighboring Lebanon.

Fierce gales and freezing temperatures continued to hit parts of northern Greece and the Ionian Sea on Saturday, as crews started to restore the electricity supply to several Aegean islands that suffered damage the day before.