A monster storm dubbed the “Beast from the East” has claimed at least 12 lives as it continues to send temperatures plunging across Europe Tuesday, causing record-breaking snowfalls and travel disruptions.
At least four people have died of exposure in Poland since Saturday and the mercury dipped to 10 degrees there overnight, while temperatures in Lithuania — which saw three deaths — plunged to below minus -4 degrees Tuesday, AFP reported.
There have been three cold-documented deaths in France since Sunday, including a 35-year-old homeless man, a man who died in a cabin in the woods outside of Paris, and a man found frozen to death in a field Monday afternoon.
In Romania, two people were found dead Tuesday, including an 83-year-old who woman was discovered collapsed in the snow.
Record snowfall of 72 inches paralyzed a northern Croatian town and a nearby village had to be evacuated. In Bosnia, roofs were caving in under the weight of snow.
As the cold becomes progressively more brutal, local authorities are scrambling to find shelters for the homeless.
A mayor in Belgium ordered vagrants be arrested if they refuse to go to shelters, calling the cold a “major risk” and stressing it was his job to avoid potential cold-related deaths.
While in Berlin, homeless shelters were already at 95 percent capacity with officials bracing for the temps to drop to minus -4 degrees across the country.
Even the Mediterranean is getting the shivers, with the mercury dipping as low as 24.8 degrees in Rome Tuesday morning after the Italian capital experienced its first snowfall in six years Monday. Italian authorities had to call in the army to clear the streets.
Nice, on the French Riviera, also saw flurries and drifts caused multiple motorways across the Adriatic coast to close.
On Tuesday morning, the icy temperatures reached the Netherlands and Britain and caused travel disruptions.
Much of Brrr-itain woke up to snow, flights were cancelled as were hundreds of trains, and over 100 schools were closed in the county of Kent alone, Telegraph UK reported.
“Tuesday is going to be a very cold day for all of us. Many parts will start with a severe frost, and temperatures then struggling to climb above freezing come the afternoon,” Britain’s official weather service said, warning of power cuts.
Travel disruptions and blizzard-like conditions are expected to continue through Friday.
Up to four inches of snow will fall in most areas of the United Kingdom, with 15 inches possible in Scotland, meteorologists predicted.
With Post wires