Heavy snowfall, cold cause traffic jams in Nordics

By AFP

January 05, 2024

STOCKHOLM: Hundreds of cars were stuck along highways in southern Sweden and Denmark on Thursday, authorities said, with heavy snowfall behind the gridlock as a cold snap hit the region.

In Sweden, military personnel were dispatched to assist rescue services working to aid stranded motorists between the towns of Horby and Kristianstad in Sweden´s far south. After drivers who requested help were evacuated, the people who remained in the area were mostly lorry drivers, the emergency services on the scene announced at around 10:30 am (0930 GMT).

Employees cleared snow with wheel loaders as drivers are evacuated with the Home Guards tracked vehicle at Ekerodsrasten on the E22 between Horby and Kristianstad in southern Sweden, on the night of January 4, 2024. — AFP — Employees cleared snow with wheel loaders as drivers are evacuated with the Home Guard's tracked vehicle at Ekerodsrasten on the E22 between Horby and Kristianstad in southern Sweden, on the night of January 4, 2024. — AFP

Sweden´s armed forces using “tracked vehicles have picked up people from trapped cars and around 100 people are at the assembly point opened by Horby municipality,” where the temperature dropped to minus five degrees Celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit) at around 05:00 am, police said in a statement.

During the night of Wednesday to Thursday, food was provided to these people and a few cases of “illness were treated,” it added. During the evening, almost 1,000 vehicles were trapped in a gridlock due to the snow, and the road was expected to remain closed until Friday, according to the Swedish Transport Administration.