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Agence France-Presse

The Netherlands and parts of Germany were blanketed on Sunday by a snowstorm that disrupted planes and trains and put some coronavirus testing on hold.
Britain was also bracing for heavy snow from what Dutch meteorologists have called Storm Darcy, which is packing winds of up to 90 kilometres (55 miles) an hour.
People rushed outdoors to enjoy sledging and playing in the snow in Dutch and German cities despite the bitterly cold conditions with temperatures as low as minus 5 degrees Celsius (23 Fahrenheit).
Himalayan glacier breaks in India, hitting dams and killing nine, with 140 missing
But Dutch authorities declared a rare “code red” emergency for the entire country as it was hit by its first proper snowstorm in more than a decade.
Weather forecasting website Weer.nl said that overnight a force eight wind was measured in combination with snowfall, adding: “This officially means a snowstorm in our country.
“It is the first snowstorm in a long time: the last snowstorm took place in January 2010,” it said.
Dozens of flights were delayed or cancelled at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport while Eindhoven airport in the southern Netherlands scrapped all services.
All trains were cancelled in the Netherlands, including international services to Germany. Trams were halted in the capital Amsterdam, while a tram derailed in the snow in The Hague.
Motorists were advised to avoid travelling and more than 80 cars were reported to have skidded off the road.
Most parts of the country had between five and 10 centimetres (two and four inches) of snow but some areas received 30 centimetres, public broadcaster NOS said.
The conditions are so severe that the Dutch government has closed all coronavirus testing centres for several days.

Up to 10 days of sub-zero daytime temperatures are expected in the Netherlands, raising hopes in the skating-obsessed country that canals will freeze over.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte has said ice skating will be allowed if the canals freeze for the first time since 2018, but warned Dutch people to observe social distancing and to try not to fall over and end up in already overstretched hospitals.
Hopes that a 200-kilometre (125-mile) ice-skating marathon through 11 cities called the Elfstedentocht could be held for the first time since 1997 are however on ice because of coronavirus restrictions.
All four football matches in the Dutch top-flight Eredivisie on Sunday were cancelled, as was a German Bundesliga game.
In Germany, snowfall caused major disruption to trains and cancellations of services between cities including Hamburg and Hanover.
Thick snow of up to 30 centimetres meanwhile disrupted road traffic, with hundreds of accidents and part of a motorway in North-Westphalia closed by police after it turned into a virtual ice rink.

Several vehicles were trapped beneath piles of snow and their owners had to dig them out with shovels, according to pictures on the Bild website.
Heavier snow of up to 40 centimetres was expected in parts of northern Germany overnight, meteorological service DWD said.
Belgium, which also neighbours the Netherlands, received a light dusting of snow but was expecting a big temperature drop as the week progresses.
In Britain, the authorities issued an amber weather warning in southeast England for what local media dubbed the “Beast from the East II”.

The first “beast” in 2018 caused 10 days of snow in Britain.
The current warning is for roads becoming blocked by deep snow and disruptions to bus, rail and air travel.
The UK was “starting to see the whites of the eyes” of the storm, according to BBC weather.
Coronavirus testing sites in two counties in eastern England were also forced to close by the weather, the BBC reported.


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Extreme weather

Netherlands hit by Storm Darcy, country’s first snowstorm in a decade, as Europe shivers

Snow blankets a field as a man walks past windmills in the village of Kinderdijk, Netherlands on Sunday. Photo: AFP

epa08989026 Prime Minister Mark Rutte during the press conference after the Council of Ministers, The Hague, Netherlands, 05 February 2021. EPA-EFE/KOEN VAN WEEL

epa08994230 A Pedestrian walks in the snow in Beckenham Place park in south east London, Britain, 07 February 2021. Britain is facing sub-zero temperatures as storm Darcy sweeps the United Kingdom. EPA-EFE/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA

Canals are seen after heavy snowfall in Amsterdam, Netherlands February 7, 2021. REUTERS/Eva Plevier

Himalayan glacier breaks in India, hitting dams and killing 14, with 170 missing

A hydropower plant worker raises his arms in joy after he was pulled out from beneath the ground during rescue operations after a portion of Nanda Devi glacier broke off in the Tapovan area. Photo: AP

A view shows damage after a Himalayan glacier broke and crashed into a dam at Raini Chak Lata village in Chamoli district, northern state of Uttarakhand, India, February 7, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer NO ARCHIVES. NO RESALES.

‘Life-threatening’ snowstorm batters northeast US

A Floating Woman statue is seen in New York during a winter storm on Monday. Photo: AFP

An MTA bus makes its way through blizzard conditions during a heavy snowstorm in Brooklyn, New York City on Monday, February 1, 2021. (Gardiner Anderson/New York Daily News/TNS)

Spain hit by record-breaking cold weather after worst snowstorm in decades

Trees damaged by heavy snowfall are seen on a shopping street in central Madrid, after a sub-zero blast hit the country. Photo: Bloomberg

In this photo made available on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021, by the European Space Agency, a view of a Copernicus Sentinel-2 image of Madrid, Spain. The image appears to have been taken in black and white. In fact, it is a true-colour image – but the heaviest snowfall in 50 years has blanketed the region, turning the landscape white. Much of Spain is struggling to return to normality three days after a 30-hour-long record snowfall that was then hardened by record-low temperatures, turning streets and roads into dangerous ice sheets in areas not used to extreme winters. (European Space Agency via AP)

Snow covers the landscape with low temperatures after the recent snow fall, in Belagua valley near to Isaba, northern Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021. Much of Spain is struggling in the aftermath of a massive snowfall that hardened into ice and turned streets and roads into safety hazards in areas unaccustomed to extreme winters. The Spanish weather agency said Tuesday that overnight temperatures were the coldest since at least 2001 and dropped in some places to the lowest since 1982. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)

A snow plough clears ice and snow from Puerta del Sol square in Madrid, Spain, on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021. A sub-zero blast that has already blanketed Madrid in a rare snowfall is set to worsen with a weather phenomenon known as a sudden stratospheric warming. Photographer: Paul Hanna/Bloomberg

A plough clears snow at the Puerta Toledo monument in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021. Schools remain closed in Madrid and many other parts of central Spain, with authorities focusing on reopening roads and stocking up supermarkets, struggling with the largest snowfall in half a century and record-low temperatures. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Netherlands sees worst riots in four decades over coronavirus curbs

Rioters throw stones at police, in Haarlem, in the Netherlands, on Monday. Photo: AP

TOPSHOT - Dutch policemen arrest a man during clashes with a large group of young people on Beijerlandselaan in Rotterdam, on January 25, 2021. - The Netherlands was hit by a second wave of riots on January 25 evening after protesters again went on the rampage in several cities following the introduction of a coronavirus curfew over the weekend. Riot police clashed with groups of protesters in the port city of Rotterdam, where they used a water canon. (Photo by Marco de Swart / ANP / AFP) / Netherlands OUT

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Snowstorm has disrupted planes and trains and put coronavirus testing on hold
Dutch authorities declared a rare ‘code red’ emergency as the country was hit by its first proper snowstorm in more than a decade



Britain was also bracing for heavy snow from what Dutch meteorologists have called Storm Darcy, with winds of up to 90 kilometres (55 miles) an hour.


The Netherlands

Coronavirus pandemic

Coronavirus pandemic: All stories

Britain