Onset of winter
Long traffic jams on motorways due to snow and black ice
A man shovels snow from the street in Kordel, Rhineland-Palatinate. photo
© Harald Tittel/dpa
The winter weather continues to slow down traffic in parts of Germany. On some highways nothing worked for a while. At least the weather service gave the cautious all-clear.
Hundreds of people are stuck in traffic jams for hours Highways stuck: Snow and slippery roads caused significant disruptions on roads in parts of Germany on Thursday night. Motorways 3, 4, 5 and 7 were particularly affected. In eastern Hesse, people in kilometer-long traffic jams were provided with blankets and hot drinks by rescue workers, the police said. In the morning the situation relaxed. Meanwhile, the German Weather Service (DWD) canceled its severe weather warnings.
In Hesse, according to traffic reports from the state police, vehicles standing across several highways obstructed traffic in the morning. In most cases, only individual lanes were closed, so traffic at least moved slowly.
That morning, a police spokesman described the situation as “very problematic”. There were kilometers of traffic jams on all motorways. Nothing was working on Wednesday evening: several trucks blocked the lanes on icy roads. Pictures showed trucks standing on snow-covered roads. You could also see how helpers on quad bikes were out in traffic jams to help the people stuck in the vehicles.
Hot drinks distributed in traffic jams
In the south of North Rhine-Westphalia, patience was also required in the morning. On the A3, traffic was backed up for over 20 kilometers from Lohmar to Bad Honnef. “Due to stationary trucks, cars can sometimes pass through, but it’s actually still – let me put it cautiously – a bit chaotic,” said a police spokesman about the situation on the A3. On the A4, traffic between Düren and Aachen-Laurensberg was backed up for over 20 kilometers in both directions.
On Autobahn 3 in northern Rhineland-Palatinate, the police assumed that around 2,000 people were stuck in the traffic jam. “We started distributing hot drinks relatively early,” said Tim Wessel from the fire brigade of the Asbach municipality. “There were people there who were just happy that they got a warm coffee because they had already been stuck in a traffic jam for four hours.” Individual vehicles ran out of fuel or the battery failed. “The people were then taken into personnel carriers so that they could sit in warmth,” said Wessel.
The fire department also treated a few medical emergencies. “We had a hypoglycemia and a panic attack where we were able to calm down,” said the spokesman. There were also warm drinks for the emergency services themselves.
No more severe weather warnings
Already on Wednesday, people in large parts of Germany were slipping on slippery roads and paths. There were numerous accidents across the country. But there was no major chaos. The DWD issued all severe weather warnings on Thursday morning.
The precipitation area will slowly shift from the center to the south on Thursday. “The risk of black ice caused by freezing rain is decreasing significantly,” said the weather service. “In the south, the surfaces of the streets and paths are too high for freezing precipitation due to the previous weather.” There the rain turns into snowfall.
According to a spokeswoman, train traffic at Deutsche Bahn started in the morning without any major disruptions. However, air travelers sometimes still need patience. Hundreds of flights were canceled at Frankfurt Airport. More than 300 of a total of around 1,000 flights have been canceled, said a Fraport spokeswoman. The airport in Munich returned to normal operations.
Schools remained closed
Some schools remained on Thursday – for example in the Göttingen district in southern Lower Saxony. The district justified the decision by saying that regular school transport was not possible. However, emergency care should be set up at schools. According to a press release on Wednesday, there was also no compulsory attendance in Hesse in the Gießen district and the Vogelsberg district. The Werra-Meißner district recommended distance learning to schools. According to the district, numerous schools in the Main-Kinzig district also canceled face-to-face classes on Thursday.