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Icy conditions grip Poland

20.12.2022 12:30
A combination of snowfall, sleet and thaw covered Poland’s roads with slippery ice on Tuesday, with school classes and bus services cancelled in various areas around the country and at least one fatality reported by midday, according to news outlets. 
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A combination of snowfall, sleet and thaw covered Polands roads with slippery ice on Tuesday, with school classes and bus services cancelled in various areas around the country and at least one fatality reported by noon.
A combination of snowfall, sleet and thaw covered Poland’s roads with slippery ice on Tuesday, with school classes and bus services cancelled in various areas around the country and at least one fatality reported by noon. PAP/Kalbar

Due to the icy conditions, more than 1,200 gritters and other winter service vehicles were deployed to clear major roads on Tuesday morning, the i.pl website reported. 

One casualty in Warsaw

A 38-year-old man died instantly, apparently from head injuries, after falling on a slippery pavement in Warsaw’s busy Targowa Street, state news agency PAP reported. 

Warsaw police urged drivers and pedestrians to be careful on the roads and pavements, officials said. 

Meanwhile, bus services were maintained in the capital thanks to 170 snow and ice removal trucks which had been out on the streets overnight, reporters were told.  

School classes, bus services cancelled, road collisions

Elsewhere, however, bus services, including school bus services, had to be cancelled due to the icy conditions, news outlets reported.

This was the case in the northeastern city of Białystok and in several municipalities in the northern Warmińsko-Mazurskie region, for instance, according to the PAP news agency. 

School classes were cancelled in Białystok as well as in the municipality of Ełk, Warmińsko-Mazurskie province, among other places. 

Meanwhile, more than 50 people were hospitalised in the northern city of Słupsk with injuries sustained on slippery pavements, PAP also reported. 

Icy roads, rain, fog

Road conditions were dangerous throughout the country, with many collisions taking place, officials said. 

There were icy surfaces in the northeastern Podlaskie province, as well as in the southwestern Opolskie region, the southern Śląskie province and the southeastern Podkarpackie region, the i.pl website reported.

Meanwhile, rainy conditions were reported in 13 regions, sleet in the south-central Świętokrzyskie province and fog in the northwestern Zachodniopomorskie region, according to i.pl. 

In addition, heavy freezing rain fell overnight in the southeastern Podkarpackie region, leaving more than 4,100 households without power, the PAP news agency reported.

(pm/gs)

Source: PAP, i.pl