- Title: GERMANY: Wintry weather causes chaos
- Date: 10th December 2010
- Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (DECEMBER 9, 2010) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF BERLIN'S MAIN TRAIN STATION SNOW ON ROOF OF STATION VARIOUS OF TRAIN GOING INTO STATION MAIN ENTRANCE TO STATION (SOUNDBITE) (German) PASSER-BYE, NAOMI WITTBERGER, SAYING: "I love snow. I don't have a problem with it. Of course you have to leave some extra time in the mornings but otherwise I'm quite relaxed about it. You can't do anything about it anyway." VARIOUS OF BOARD SHOWING TRAIN DELAYS PASSENGERS VARIOUS OF SNOW ON TRAIN VARIOUS OF TRAIN LEAVING STATION VARIOUS OF MAIN TOWER AT BERLIN TEGEL AIRPORT (3 SHOTS) VARIOUS OF SNOW BEING CLEARED FROM RUNWAY (3 SHOTS) PLANES ON SNOWY TARMAC
- Embargoed: 25th December 2010 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Germany, Germany
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Weather
- Reuters ID: LVACFSVSQLAEIP61PF6MPZJEUE4E
- Story Text: Heavy snowfall continued to cause chaos throughout Germany on Thursday (December 9) with delays and cancellations being reported at airports and train stations.
At Berlin's main train station, numerous trains were delayed and ice could be seen forming on the trains.
At the city's Tegel airport, snow ploughs could be seen on the runway, clearing snow and ice.
Many passengers in Germany's largest airport, Frankfurt, were left stranded as flights were cancelled. The airport was closed for some four hours during the night due to the heavy snow.
"Passengers at Frankfurt airport will again today have to deal with delays and flight cancellations. This is firstly down to the fact that air traffic was stopped for four hours during the night but also for security reasons. A huge snowfall led to us being unable to keep the runways clear of snow and ice. This has changed now. We are trying hard to work our way through all of the cancellations and delays as quickly as possible," said Juergen Harrer, the spokesperson for Fraport, the company which runs the airport.
He added that some 160 flights had so far been cancelled from 1400.
Large queues could be seen building up at ticket desks within the departures hall.
"My flight was cancelled and I had to wait in a queue to find out whether or not I can be rebooked onto a later flight to Vienna," stranded passenger Ingrid Salome told Reuters TV.
"It is a crisis. But who is managing it?," said Guenther Ostrowski.
The snowy weather was set to continue throughout Thursday. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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