Avalanche warnings aired after heavy snowfall in Switzerland
BERLIN (AP) - Authorities in Switzerland have warned of high avalanche risk in mountainous regions of the Alpine nation after heavy snowfall in recent days.
Zurich's public transport company halted all tram and bus services in Switzerland's biggest city Friday, saying snow had brought down trees and blocked access to three vehicle depots overnight.
Some eastern Swiss regions saw up to 80 centimeters (2.6 feet) of snowfall in 24 hours. Parts of the Goms valley on the border with Italy were cut off from the world due to blocked roads.
Many roads were also closed due to avalanche risk or fallen trees in the western Austrian region of Tyrol. In the Vorarlberg region a power cut left some 7,400 households without electricity. Austrian rail company OeBB said several train routes were disrupted by snow.
Police in southwestern Germany said a 72-year-old woman died after a tree laden with snow fell on her while she was walking her dog near the Swiss border. The woman´s son found her seriously injured and suffering from hypothermia, but she later died in a hospital. A spokesman for Loerrach police, Thomas Batzel, said the dog was unharmed.
A woman waits at a bus stop in Zurich, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. The traffic situation is difficult after persistent snowfalls in eastern Switzerland. (Ennio Leanza/Keystone via AP)
Horses stand on a snow covered meadow near Graefenroda, Germany, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
A bird flies over the sky near the 1000-year old Orthodox Monastery of Caves covered with the first snow this winter in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. Ukraine has been hit with unusually cold weather with temperatures of 21 degrees Celsius below zero (69.8 F). (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
A view of the ice-covered Ostankino TV tower on a cold winter morning as the temperature in Moscow dropped to -18 degree Celsius (-0,4 degree Fahrenheit) in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
People walk on the snow covered Bahnofstrasse after heavy snowfalls in Zuerich after heavy snowfalls in Zuerich, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. The traffic situation is difficult after persistend snowfalls in eastern and central Switzerland. (Alexandra Wey/Keystone via AP)
Cars and bicycles are snow covered after heavy snowfalls in Zurich, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. The traffic situation is difficult in the area after persistent snowfalls in eastern Switzerland. (Walter Bieri/Keystone via AP)
Snow covers the roofs of houses in Gschwenda, Germany, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Trucks are parked in the snow on highway A31 near Eriskirch, Germany, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. Several drivers had to spend the night in their cars. (Felix Kaestle/dpa via AP)
A car drives over a snowy road in the Ore Mountains near Rehefeld, Germany, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. (Robert Michael/dpa via AP)
A car makes his way through a snow covered landscape near Graefenroda, Germany, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
