Extreme cold grips Nordic countries, leaving thousands without power; fresh floods hit Germany, France & Netherlands

Severe cold temperatures intensified by strong winds and snow, created chaos across the Nordic region on Thursday, resulting in widespread power outages and long hours of inconvenience for motorists stranded on congested highways.

In Germany, France, and the Netherlands, heavy rains triggered floods in areas already grappling with persistent flooding over the past two weeks. The deep freeze significantly disrupted transportation in the Nordic region, with reports of traffic disturbances due to closures of highways and major roads. Issues with rail services have also been noticed.

Electricity was cut to some 4,000 homes in Arctic Sweden where temperatures plummeted to minus 38 degrees Celsius (minus 36.4 degrees Fahrenheit), according to Swedish public radio. In the southern part of the country, motorists were stuck in their cars or evacuated to a nearby sporting complex where they spent the night.

In neighbouring Denmark, police urged motorists to avoid unnecessary trips as wind and snow battered the northern and western parts of the country.

In Finnish Lapland, the municipality of Enontekio, near the border with Norway and Sweden, recorded the country’s lowest temperature this winter on Thursday at minus 42.5 degrees C (minus 44.5 degrees F). Meteorologists are forecasting even colder temperatures the rest of the week.

A ferry sailing between the capitals of Norway and Denmark finally docked in Copenhagen on Thursday after some 900 passengers spent the night aboard the vessel, which had been idling in the Oresund straight between Denmark and southern Sweden. On Wednesday, weather hampered the Crown Seaways vessel from sailing into the Copenhagen harbor.

In Germany, heavy rain has resumed in regions that have seen persistent flooding over the past two weeks. Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday plans to make his second visit this week to inspect a dike and a sandbag-filling facility in the eastern town of Sangerhausen.

After several days of rain and rising waters, several towns in northern France were left under water Thursday. Hundreds of people have been evacuated in recent days. The area was also hit by flooding in November and December, and some towns still hadn’t recovered. Government ministers are traveling to the area on Thursday.

The government in low-lying Netherlands, which also faced extremely high water levels in rivers and lakes, said it would send pumps to France to help it tackle widespread flooding.

“It has rained a lot recently, which means that the water in France can no longer be drained properly. In many places rivers have already burst their banks. That is why it is important to help each other get rid of the water as quickly as possible,” Infrastructure and Water Minister Mark Harbers said in a statement.

The Dutch emergency pumps can each process 5 million liters (1.3 million gallons) of water per hour.

With inputs from agencies.