Worst winter storm in 150 years – Belarus grinds to a halt

More than 530 villages and towns in Belarus without electricity.

March 17, 2013 – Large parts of Belarus and the Belarusian capital, Minsk, have been paralyzed for the past two days.

Although the country is used to severe winters and well equipped to deal with large amount of snow, public life came to a halt at this weekend.

While similar weather conditions in the USA would make it to the top news in Europe, there has been no mention of the storm in Belarus in Western media.

It started as simple snowfall on Friday morning, but approximately 20 cm (8 inches) of snow fell in the following 24 hours. The wind was 22 metres per second according to the Belarusian hydro-meteorological centre. Sight was limited to 100 metres in the Minsk region on Friday afternoon because of the heavy snowfall.

The snowfall “led to a chaos that is extraordinary for Belarus.” “The last time I have seen something similar was in the 1980s” says Sasha, who reached home by walking from the metro station to his homes.

Thousands forced to spend the night in their cars

Buses stopped running during the afternoon and did not re-start until Saturday evening.  Getting home during rush hour was very difficult for all people and impossible for many. “My colleague left the office at lunch time and got home at 4a.m.”, says Vasili. Indeed, circulation on the Minsk beltway came to a still stand during rush hour. Thousands of cars were stuck in traffic jams.

For some time, the roads out of Minsk were completely closed. It was impossible to get from towns to the periphery of the capital such Dziarzhinsk and Fanipol’ to Minsk or back. Circulation on the main street in Minsk, the prospect, came to a complete still-stand during the rush hour.  Many people had to sleep at work or were forced to stay overnight with friends in the centre. As there were no buses running, the metro had to be temporary closed because it was so overcrowded. Those who could, left their cars at works and tried to get home by public transport. This turned out to be difficult, however, when only metro and regional trains could operate.

Car park roof collapses

The roof of a car park near Hotel Minsk in the very centre of the capital fell down on account of the masses of snow covering it. The plastic roof buried around 30 cars but fortunately did not hurt a single person.

By Friday evening more than 530 villages and towns in Belarus were left without electricity. Up to Saturday evening, 26 villages are still without electricity in Brest region. This region suffered especially from heavy snow falls and wind: 82 cars were freed from snow drifts. 320 persons, among them 37 children were in the cars.

http://belarusdigest.com/story/snow-storm-xavier-paralyses-belarus-13393

See lots of photos:
http://endtimenewswithprophecy.com/?p=15961