Poland hit by snow and freezing temperatures

Poland has been repeatedly hit by waves of intense cold and heavy snowfalls this winter. Temperatures as low as - 34C ( -25 F) have been recorded on some nights, some areas have recieved up to a meter ( 3ft) of snow since the beginning of the new year. Bydgoszcz, Poland. 25/01/2010.

Poland has been repeatedly hit by waves of intense cold and heavy snowfalls this winter. Temperatures as low as - 34C ( -25 F) have been recorded on some nights, some areas have recieved up to a meter ( 3ft) of snow since the beginning of the new year. The country is caught off guard by such extreme weather conditions, long delays on airports , trains, buses and hazardous road conditions have paralyzed the transport infrastucture to a degree not seen since the collapse of communism some 20 years ago. The last such severe winter occured in 1979, back then the number of cars on Polish roads was only 10% of the current numbers. What is enjoyed by kids out on holiday is not liked by many commuters. Maria Strzelczyk, a commuter living near Warsaw, has complained that " the suburban trains are routinely thirty minutes late, that is if they come at all. Driving to the city is not much better because the roads are unpassable." Residents in Olkusz, a town near Krakow, have not had electricity for two weeks, some even longer, due to ice storms downing power lines. Ice also causes ice jams on rivers, flooding some villages along the Bug River along the Belorussian border and effectively cutting others from the outside world. Over 200 people, most of them homeless have frozen to death on the streets, prompting the authorities to urge the rest to take advantage of open shelters, yet many are unwilling to move to them due to the ban on alcohol enforced on those premises. Temperatures are expected to stay below normal well into February, and a new snow storm is hitting the country on Jan.27-29. Some pictures included here show the frozen state of the Vistula and Brda rivers and the locals making the most out of this difficult situation.