(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Snowstorms shut most of Ireland yesterday and forced Britain to call in the army to help battle some of the worst weather seen for nearly 30 years.
After a blast of Siberian cold dubbed 'the beast from the east, southern Britain and Ireland were battered by Storm Emma that arrived from the south and blocked roads, grounded planes and stopped trains.
Overnight blizzards left snow drifts up to three feet deep across Ireland and Scotland.
The storm knocked out Ireland's entire public transport network, closing its airports and leaving roads 'extremely dangerous, the government said.
At the peak of the storm, over 100,000 homes and businesses were left without power.
Yesterday, the Irish stock exchange was shut, as were all schools and most government offices as a status Red weather alert remained across most of Ireland.
'The country needs to more or less stay in hibernation, Deputy Prime Minister Simon Coveney told state broadcaster RTE. 'Hopefully we can continue to get through these freak weather conditions without tragedy.
In Britain, a seven-year-old girl was killed in Cornwall after a car crashed into a house in icy conditions, the BBC reported.
Dozens of passengers were stranded on trains overnight in southern England. The army was summoned to help rescue hundreds of drivers stuck in the snow and to transport National Health Service workers.
Roads and schools were closed and many flights cancelled across Britain.
Weather conditions in Scotland, which initially bore the brunt of the Siberian cold front, improved slightly, but the authorities warned people not to travel during the weekend.
Around 30 vehicles were stuck on a road near Aberdeen, the local council said, with many other roads closed due to snow drifts. Residents of the Scottish border area were asked to help dig out roads where a number of motorists were stranded. Care workers in rural areas were moving around in tractors.
'In the current bad weather, I want to say thank you to everyone going the extra mile to keep our country moving — and to keep us safe, Prime Minister Theresa May said.
Airbus said its Filton plant in Bristol, which helps make wings for passenger jets, was closed yesterday due to the heavy weather.
Audit firm PwC estimated that the cost of insurance claims by consumers and businesses in UK to date as a result of the severe weather was at least £15mn, though it was too early to forecast the final bill.
'We have already had over 8,000 road accidents in the past three days and this could increase significantly with more snow set to fall, said Mohamed Khan, head of PwC's general insurance business in Britain.
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