PARIS – The Eiffel Tower has been closed to tourists as snow swept across northern France, bringing the city of lights to a standstill on Wednesday.
The Meteo France weather service says the snowfall will intensify overnight Wednesday, with temperatures expected to fall as low as minus 10C (14F), leaving 5-10cm (two to four inches) in most areas on alert.
The exceptional snowfall caused chaos on roadways across Paris, with a record 700km (430 miles) of traffic jams recorded on Tuesday evening, local information service Sytadin said. Public transportation was also halted.
Photographs shared by the Eiffel Tower’s official Twitter account showed the French capital blanketed in white.
Due to weather conditions, the Eiffel Tower is closed all the day.#eiffeltower pic.twitter.com/98NEPNLcmn
— La tour Eiffel (@LaTourEiffel) February 7, 2018
Authorities opened emergency shelters to accommodate stranded commuters, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, Frederic de Lanouvelle, said.
“The situation is complicated, it’s even quite exceptional,” de Lanouvelle said on French national radio France Info on Wednesday.
“We’re asking drivers not to use their cars this morning.”
Rail operator SNCF had to slow down trains on several of its high-speed TGV lines, with service disrupted across much of northern France.
The cold snap marks a sharp contrast from the weeks of mild and rainy weather across northern France in recent weeks, prompting flooding in several areas and pushing the Seine river to more than four metres above its normal levels as it flows through the capital.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/world/paris-may-submerge-in-20ft-floodwater-on-saturday-as-river-seine-continues-to-rise/
Some 46 emergency shelters were opened to homeless people and others caught out in the winter weather on Tuesday night, housing about 1,000 people. Hundreds were also sheltered at train stations and airports.
Some 2,500 emergency services staff were deployed to restore order as quickly as possible, the minister added.
Some Parisians braved the snow, with at least a few skiers and snowboarders taking to one of the slopes in the city – Montmartre hill near Paris’ iconic church, the Sacre Coeur.
The greater Paris region is among 27 departments that have been placed under alert across the country, according to Meteo France.
