• Sweden edition

Snow wreaks havoc on Sweden's roadways

Published: 17 Dec 09 16:34 CET | Double click on a word to get a translation
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/23914/20091217/

Heavy snowfall and high winds continued to disrupt traffic in many parts of Sweden into Thursday afternoon.

By 3pm, police counted around ten incidents of vehicles skidding off the roads around Nyköping in eastern Sweden.

“The E4 motorway is extremely slippery. A number of trucks have gone off the road,” said Södermanland County police spokesperson Hans Erik Åkerlund.

In Stockholm County, city buses were ordered off the roads around lunchtime in several municipalities in the north of the city, as well as in Huddinge, Botkyrka, Södertälje, Ösmo, Nacka, and Värmdö to the south and Ekerö to the west due to icy conditions and poor visibility.

Commuter rail lines were also running behind schedule because of malfunctioning track switches.

On the Baltic island of Gotland, the rough weather caused the cancellation of several school bus routes.

Police in Stockholm, Östergötland and Gävleborg counties report several cases of cars sliding off slippery roads as a result of the day’s snowy weather.

One 30-year-old man was injured at 7am when his car slammed into a guardrail around on the E4 motorway near Hagsta north of Gävle in eastern Sweden.

The man was taken to hospital and the wreck resulted in a temporary closure of the roadway.

Extremely slippery road conditions also plagued many parts in the south of the country, with accidents numbering in the double digits, although no serious injuries were reported.

Rail traffic out of Malmö in southern Sweden was also delayed throughout Thursday morning due to the fierce conditions.

According to meteorology agency SMHI, the heavy snowfall currently pummeling central and eastern Sweden is expected to weaken as it moves further south overnight.

By Friday, only residents in Skåne and Blekinge in southern Sweden are expected be forced to deal with additional snowfall.

TT/David Landes (news@thelocal.se)

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18:59 December 17, 2009 by lingonberrie
" . . . . no serious injuries were reported," is very good news, considering the conditions.
20:41 December 17, 2009 by Henckel
Looks and sounds very much like what we received last week here in the "Mittleren Westen" of the USA.
22:36 December 17, 2009 by jack sprat
Jeez,first bit of bad weather and its bloody chaos again,same as last year.

...and these are the so-called experts at dealing with winter conditions,..LOL.
22:51 December 17, 2009 by Luckystrike
Got rear-ended this evening by an old Volvo. Got out the car expecting lots of damage to my bumper. Turns out, my bumpers made from some kind of metal plastic =) Good old Ford Henry. The Volvo however, had broken head lamps, bent hood and broken bumper. No injuries.
01:37 December 18, 2009 by Greg in Canada
"Ice Road Truckers".

Do you get that tv show in Sweden by any chance?
06:18 December 18, 2009 by Hedley
So, what a real problem...!

I am living 3 month here, and I talked to my landlord about my journey to return home, since the busses were off; and she replied "that was very fortunate that trains were not shut down!"

I hope train system not shut down during my stay!
07:37 December 18, 2009 by karex
Greg, yep they show Ice Road Truckers in Sweden, one of my husband's favorites...

Jack, I think that much of the trouble here with chaos when it snows seems to increase after several winters of mild conditions: people keep putting off getting snow tires on their cars and then something like this hits them unexpectedly. My husband is one of these procrastinators. Had to take out my car yesterday as a result. Those people who have only one car and no snow tires...
10:29 December 18, 2009 by Eagle63
to Luckystrike;

that's funny; I had a fairly new Ford bump in from behind into our old Saab 900 classic, guess what...; moderate damage to the Ford, and NO damaga to the old Saab....
11:47 December 18, 2009 by Militant Atheist
Ohh how I love winter, my favourite time of year. So wonderful that we have snow in Malmö this year. And it is not that easy to cycle to work, when they have not cleared the cycle paths. But still lots of fun ;)
13:12 December 18, 2009 by Beynch
Well it's December in Scandinavia. What do you expect? Grin and bear it and adjust. It's the way it is supposed to be.
13:34 December 18, 2009 by tadchem
I though Al Gore had promised no more of this nonsense - all the snow and ice was supposed to melt away and drought was coming to the world.
19:55 December 18, 2009 by believe
I love the snow! We had a blizzard come through last week in the Midwest (US) and I ended up staying 36 hours at the hospital (my choice, I didn't feel like driving back and forth in the blizzard). We have another storm coming in Tuesday. I am glad I will be off for the week, and can stay home for this one. I wonder if that means you all will have a big storm come through next week? For those of you who celebrate the holiday's, I wish you a merry one! Enjoy your winter wonderland!
23:43 December 19, 2009 by azbuka
Seriously, how can someone be taken unawares with snow (!) in Sweden (!!) in mid-December (!!!)? Am I reading thelocal.lk (Sri Lanka), or is it just some slackers trying to justify their procrastination?
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