Heavy Snow Paralyzes Germany, Grounding Over 800 Flights And Hitting Trains

On Wednesday, hundreds of flights were grounded and train traffic was hampered in central and southern Germany due to freezing rain, with the weather office warning of slick roads and heavy snowfall.

An airport in the southern city of Saarbruecken suspended operations, while 570 of the 1,047 scheduled arrivals and departures at Frankfurt airport were canceled. At Munich airport, 254 flights were rescheduled.

Frankfurt’s airport timetables showed that just a small number of flights were still scheduled to depart.

However, German rail operator Deutsche Bahn warned of delays and cancellations due to winter weather and said it was reducing the top speed of its high-speed ICE trains to 200 kph (124 mph) as a precaution.

Deutsche Bahn announced that its long-distance trains from Stuttgart and Frankfurt to Paris had been canceled due to weather conditions in France.

This afternoon, France’s weather office issued a warning on its website for black ice in 25 districts and flooding in three others.

According to Germany’s weather office, the affected regions will continue to face an exceptional risk of black ice and severe precipitation until Thursday.

Many schools in Germany’s central and southern regions remained closed since on-site education was discontinued for the day.

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