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SNOW

Wintry weather wreaks transport chaos

The early arrival of winter in Switzerland over the weekend led to chaotic conditions on highways, with hundreds of accidents snarling transport across the country.

Published: 29 October 2012 10:34 CET
Wintry weather wreaks transport chaos
Snow cover on the road between Pont-la-Ville and Treyvaux in the canton of Fribourg on Sunday (Photo: Pierre Schwaller)

Motorists caught without winter tyres struggled to drive on roads after heavy snow fell in central and eastern Switzerland, while record low temperatures were registered in several communities.

Snow accumulations ranged from three to 40 centimetres, with winds on Sunday of more than 100 kilometres an hour in places such as Les Diablerets, a mountain village in the canton of Vaud.

The Swiss capital of Bern was blanketed with 12 centimetres of snow at the weekend, the most recorded in October since 1931, the SDA news agency reported.

Touring Club Suisse received 2,500 calls for help, mostly from people driving vehicles with summer tyres.

The TCS, which offers roadside assistance, said it expected even more calls but advance warnings of the winter weather appeared to be heeded by many motorists.

“The people were warned and they responded well,” a spokesman from TCS told the ATS news service.

All the same, dozens of accidents were reported from Saturday evening and on Sunday — more than 60 in the canton of Bern alone, with another 12 in the canton of Zurich.

Most of the incidents were fender benders with no serious injuries.

A section of the A12 highway in the canton of Fribourg was closed between Châtel-St. Denis and Vaulruz after a pile-up involving eight vehicles.

One person suffered minor injuries and was transported to hospital.

Another accident in Fribourg on the A1 highway near Morat early Sunday afternoon led to tailbacks, while authorities temporarily closed many small roads in the cantons of Vaud and Valais for safety reasons.

Accidents unrelated to the snow snarled traffic on the same motorway between Geneva and Lausanne on Monday morning, causing headaches for commuters.

Meanwhile, a 60-centimetre snowfall forced the closure for two days of a funicular train and the world’s first convertible cable car on the Stanserhorn mountain in the canton of Nidwalden.

The cable car, which began operating in June and allows travellers to stand on an open deck, is expected to be back in service on Tuesday, operators said.

The cable car and the funicular fell victim to electrical problems caused by the heavy snow and ice.

Service on several train lines was disrupted, including those operated by the Montreux-Oberland-Bernois railway and the Fribourg public transport authority.     

Strong winds followed the snow in western parts of the country on Sunday.

Geneva’s public transport authority was forced to modify some of its bus routes because of downed trees on roads.

Passengers were transferred from some trams onto buses because of impassable routes, according to press reports.

Among other impacts of the unseasonable weather,  the Swiss Football League decided to reschedule a planned match between Young Boys and Lucerne to a later date.

MeteoSwiss, the national weather office, is predicting sunny but cold weather across the country for the remainder of this week.

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WEATHER

VIDEO: Meet the rooftop snow clearers keeping Stockholm safe

Stockholm's snow-topped buildings may look charming, but heavy snowfall can be dangerous. An army of 'sweepers' take to the city's rooftops to clear them of snow in a carefully managed operation.

Published: 12 February 2021 09:42 CET
VIDEO: Meet the rooftop snow clearers keeping Stockholm safe
Rooftop snow cleaner Andrei Pilan clears buildings in Stockholm's picturesque old town. Photo: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP

Teetering on the edge of a black tin roof ten metres (33 feet) above ground, Andrei Plian and Alex Lupu clear a thick white blanket of snow off a building in Stockholm’s historic Gamla Stan (Old Town), while their colleague on the street below keeps watch to warn pedestrians passing by.

While to many the job would be vertigo-inducing, for Plian and Lupu – two roofers by trade – it gives them a chance to admire the view.

“Being here on the roof and looking up at the sky, you feel that freedom,” Plian tells AFP, seemingly ignoring the biting subzero chill.

Secured with ropes, carabiners and a safety harness, he climbs the few remaining steps on a ladder attached to the roof and breaks the serene quiet of the sunny February morning with a clank as his shovel hits the tin roof.

Click on video below to watch:

The constant clearing of snow from the city’s roofs is first and foremost done for “the safety of the people”, but also to maintain the buildings, many of which are hundreds of years old.

“If there is too much snow on the roof it is too heavy for it so you have to take it off,” the 36-year-old says

A ten-year roofing veteran, he moves around fluidly and with confidence. Getting the job done quickly is key as more roofs are waiting, but safety remains a top priority.

“Every time you have to think about safety, it’s the number one rule. You don’t have room for a mistake here. If you make one mistake it could be your last,” Plian says.

In early February, another snow clearer was seriously injured while clearing a roof in the northern Swedish town of Umeå, with initial findings showing he wasn’t wearing his safety harness.

Under Swedish law, property owners are responsible for clearing snow and ice off their buildings if it threatens to fall and injure someone, but accidents are rare.

“As far as I can remember there has only been two deaths in the last 20-30 years or so,” Staffan Moberg, spokesman for the insurer industry group Svensk Försäkring, told AFP.

In one case in 2002, a 14-year-old died after being struck by a large block of ice that broke off a building on Stockholm’s main shopping street Drottninggatan.

Moberg added that they don’t keep statistics on incidents since they are rarely requested, and while accidents do happen on occasion, “the consequences are mostly not lethal and very seldom even severe”.

But after every fresh snowfall, signs immediately sprout up on sidewalks and facades warning passers-by of the risk of falling snow and ice, awaiting the arrival of the “snowploughs” in the sky.

While Plian and Lupu are busy at work on the roof above, Fredrik Ericsson is tasked with ensuring the safety of pedestrians down below.

Using a high-pitched whistle, he signals their comings and goings: when he blows his whistle once the shovelling stops to let people pass, and two whistles signals the all-clear to resume work.

Ericsson concedes that it can be a tricky task as people are often oblivious, sometimes wilfully, to the work going on.

“They don’t show that much respect, they just walk past, so I have to stop and yell at them,” he explains. “They don’t see the danger.”

By AFP’s Helene Dauschy

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