Ice age Europe: How the big freeze, with temperatures as low as MINUS 40, has turned Britain and the continent BLUE.
- Hundreds of Eastern European villages cut off as temperatures plummet to -40C
- Melting snow causes dam wall to break and flood entire village in southern Bulgaria, killing four
- European crisis commissioner says 'the worst is yet to come'
By LEE MORAN
Last updated at 11:24 AM on 9th February 2012
Europe continues to be blanketed in snow as the cold snap which has so far killed hundreds across the continent shows no signs of stopping.
Hundreds of villages across Eastern Europe were today completely cut off as temperatures plummeted in some places to -40C.
Rescue teams struggled to evacuate southern Bulgarians where villages flooded after rain and melting snow broke damn walls.
All white: Europe continues to be blanketed in snow as the cold snap which has so far killed hundreds across the continent shows no signs of stopping
Frozen: Lampposts are covered in the ice of waves in the Croatian Adriatic coastal town of Senj
Clear up: Volunteers clear the snow from the ice on the route of the intended Dutch Elfstedentocht (Eleven City Races) skating marathon in Sneek, Netherlands, today
A man enjoys the ice the typically Dutch way, on a bicycle, while others skate and walk on Prinsengracht canal, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Residents were also warned that there was more snow to come - which would be followed by severe floods when the temperature finally starts to rise and the snow melts.
Meanwhile temperatures in Britain are due to plummet to as low as -13C, with the big freeze due to last well into the weekend.
Up to 174 villages had no electricity, said Alin Maghiar, spokeman for Romania's emergency department.
Electricity was also cut off to 300 towns and villages in Bulgaria, roads were closed and several border checkpoints with Romania and Turkey were shut, the Interior Ministry said.
An 18-month-old Siberian tiger plays in the winter snow at Skopje zoo
Smothered: Italy has also been blanketed in snow, which has disrupted schools, transport and general day to day life
Ice babies: A squirrel devours a nut Lazienki park in Warsaw, Poland (left), as a swan sits on partly frozen water in Strasbourg harbour (right)
Play time: Children and adults stroll on a frozen lake in Hamburg, Germany, despite warnings not to do so from national officials
Melting snow caused a dam wall to break and flood an entire village in southern Bulgaria yesterday. Four people drowned and more than 50 were evacuated.
Four more people died when their cars were swept away by high waters.
Iliyan Todorov, from the village of Biser, told Trud newspaper: 'It was terrifying. We were warned that the tsunami was coming only five minutes before the wave came. We survived by a miracle.'
European Commissioner for Crisis Response Kristalina Georgieva added that 'the worst is yet to come' after visiting the village.
A snow covered train tracks are seen in the town of Alexandria, northern Greece
Ice covers the seafront of the Adriatic coastal town of Senj, Croatia
A boy slides down a hill on a plastic sheet in Bucharest, Romania, while cars remain covered by snow in the village of Mercogliano in southern Italy
Snow patrol: A police car battles blizzards and limited visibility on the A2 motorway which connects Bucharest to Constanta
Stroll: A hiker walks in front of a frozen waterfall in Oberhaslach, eastern France (left), while another walker goes along the ice covered landscape of the Tamina gorge in Bad Ragaz, Switzerland
Hard hit: Ukraine has been the worst affected by the cold snap, with 135 confirmed dead so far
She told bTV: 'The next two weeks may be
Ukraine has been hardest hit, with 135 people confirmed dead so far and forecasters saying bitter temperatures, as low as -30C, would continue for at least another eight days.
The Black Sea ports of Varna and Burgas have been forced to close due to strong winds, and Romania's main port of Constanta was also shut.
Authorities in Serbia said they were preparing to use explosives to break ice on the rivers Ibar and Danube.
Warming up: A Georgian man exercises near the frozen Tbilisi reservoir today as the snow shows no signs of letting up
Tough times: A woman waits for a bus in Kosovo's capital Pristina (left) as a snow truck battles against the elements near the village of Dardhishte (right)
Predrag Maric, head of the Interior Ministry's emergencies department, said: 'An ice cap half a metre deep has formed on the Ibar near Kraljevo and there is a real danger that it could cause the river to overflow into the city.'
He said 62miles of the Danube were freezing over and that it would also be mined.
Eleven people have died so far from the cold and snow in Serbia, with the latest victims a 62-year-old man found dead close to his home near Arilje, and a woman killed by falling ice in the capital Belgrade.
Serbian power provider TENT, which provides more than 60 per cent of the country's electricity, said it was managing to maintain supplies but was working at full capacity in 'extreme' conditions.
A sunken houseboat is seen on the frozen Zwanenburgwal canal in Amsterdam after its water pipes burst
Making use: People skate across frozen canals in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, which have been closed to commercial shipping
People skate on the frozen Prinsengracht canal in Amsterdam, Netherlands
To the south in Albania, the Kukes lake on the border with Kosovo - supplying a hydropower plant at Fierze - was frozen over for the first time in more than a decade, putting more pressure on already strained power supplies.
The cold weather has increased demand for gas in many European countries.
Italy took emergency measures yesterday to deal with what it called critical shortages of Russian gas.
Supplies to other members of the European Union mostly improved at the weekend but remained below normal.
Russia, which supplies about a quarter of Europe's natural gas, reduced westward flows through pipelines across Ukraine last week citing greater domestic demand because of the extreme weather.
Race horses are exercised on the snowy gallops in Malton, North Yorkshire, England
Snow covers boats on a frozen section of the Sava river in Belgrade, Serbia
Mush! A competitor speeds through the snow with his Siberian huskies during a dog race in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2097779/Europe-weather-Snow-covers-continent-temperatures-plunge-MINUS-40C.html#ixzz1m8nB6quW
Eropah kembali ke Zaman Ais
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ANGKA kematian akibat cuaca sejuk melampau di seluruh Eropah meningkat kepada 540 orang pada musim sejuk mutakhir ini.
Banyak kematian dicatatkan dalam tempoh dua minggu kebelakangan ini dan ia dikaitkan dengan suhu sejuk yang jatuh menjunam sehingga -39.4 darjah Celsius di beberapa negara seperti Ukraine dan Republik Czech.
Ekoran kesejukan melampau, sekurang-kurangnya 135 orang telah mati di Ukraine, Poland (82), Rusia (46), Bulgaria (32), Republik Czech (25), Lithuania (24) dan Serbia (16).
Jurucakap Kementerian Situasi Kecemasan Ukraine, Olena Didyuk berkata, masyarakat gelandangan menjadi golongan yang mencatatkan kematian paling tinggi.
"Cuaca terlampau sejuk, mereka pula tidak mempunyai pakaian dan tempat perlindungan yang baik.
"Kebanyakannya ditemui mati dalam timbunan salji tebal, di sungai yang sudah membeku dan dan di pekarangan rumah," kata Dudyuk.
Bagi pengemis dan gelandangan yang tidak mempunyai tempat tinggal, stesen-stesen keretapi bawah tanah seperti yang terletak di bandar Kiev menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari kerana mereka ingin memanaskan badan.
Tisu membeku
Selain itu, lebih daripada 3,000 khemah yang dilengkapi sistem pemanas dipasang di seluruh negara itu untuk menampung keperluan golongan tersebut.
Menurut Didyuk lagi, sehingga kini sudah lebih 2,000 orang ditempatkan di beberapa hospital di negara itu untuk diberi rawatan akibat hipotermia (kesejukan) dan frostbite atau reputan fros.
Penyakit berkaitan kesejukan melampau ini mudah terjadi apabila berlakunya pembekuan tisu dalam badan.
Memetik kenyataan penyelidik Patologi di Universiti Perubatan Georgetown, Amerika Syarikat, (AS), Dr. Melissa Conrad Stoppler, tangan dan kaki merupakan anggota badan yang mudah terkena reputan fros.
"Selain itu, bahagian tubuh yang terdedah seperti tetapi hidung, pipi, tulang kering, telinga, dan kornea mata juga berisiko," katanya dalam laman portal kesihatan, www.emedicinehealth.com.
Tambahnya, bahagian badan yang terjejas kerana radang dingin akan memberi rasa terbakar, menyucuk dan kebas.
BANYAK aktiviti kehidupan yang terbantut kerana cuaca sejuk yang melampau.
Lebih buruk, kecuaian dalam menguruskan kecederaan itu boleh menyebabkan kecacatan.
"Reputan fros boleh dikenali melalui sifatnya yang membengkak, kemerahan, rasa nyeri dan kuping putih pada kulit.
"Dalam keadaan ekstrem, tisu yang cedera akan mati dan kulit akan melepuh.
"Dapatkan rawatan segera di hospital atau cari kawasan yang boleh memberi kehangatan untuk mengelakkan reputan fros menjadi lebih teruk.
"Sebaik sahaja anda berada dalam bangunan, cara terbaik untuk memanaskan bahagian reput fros ialah dengan merendam anggota tubuh di dalam tab air sederhana panas 42 darjah Celcius," kata Stoppler.
Selain reputan fros, penurunan suhu badan secara mendadak yang disebabkan kehilangan haba terlalu banyak juga boleh menyebabkan kematian.
Keadaan yang dikenali sebagai hipotermia ini terjadi apabila tubuh sukar mengatasi tekanan yang dihasilkan oleh suhu dingin.
Gejala hipotermia boleh dilihat daripada tubuh yang menggeletar, kulit bertukar kelabu, degupan jantung lemah, tekanan darah menurun dan kekejangan otot.
Menurut portal kesihatan Pusat Perubatan Universiti Maryland, AS, apabila suhu badan menurun mendadak di bawah normal, ia akan melambatkan peredaran darah, pernafasan dan pergerakan sistem saraf.
Hipotermia sering berlaku secara berperingkat-peringkat, ada juga kes yang dilaporkan berlaku dalam masa beberapa minit sahaja.
Contohnya, sekiranya seseorang itu jatuh ke dalam air sejuk, badan akan kehilangan haba lebih cepat.
Hipotermia teruk juga boleh menyebabkan denyutan jantung tidak teratur sehingga membawa kepada kegagalan jantung dan kematian.
Teori Zaman Ais
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SUHU bawah paras beku menukarkan salji kepada ais.
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Sementara itu, saintis mikropalentologis di Balai Cerap Bumi Lamont-Doherty di Columbia University AS, George Kukla berpendapat, keadaan dialami Eropah kini menyamai zaman ais yang direkodkan kira-kira 115,000 tahun lalu.
Dalam temu bual panjang lebar dengan majalah Gelf, Kukla yang juga bekas profesor paleoklimatologi menjelaskan, apa yang berlaku adalah sangat serupa dengan masa tahun 115,000 lalu.
Paleoklimatologi ialah kajian tentang iklim pada masa geologi lampau yang melibatkan pentafsiran tentang mendapan glasier, fosil, data paleogografi, data isotop dan data sedimentologi.
"Apabila glasier bermula ratusan tahun dahulu, percaya atau tidak, glasier terakhir bermula dengan pemanasan global.
"Pemanasan global sentiasa mendahului Zaman Ais. Sejarah yang direkodkan menunjukkan teras ais berulang setiap 100,000 tahun atau lebih.
"Ahli sains terdahulu percaya Zaman Ais akan terbentuk secara perlahan-lahan dan mengambil masa berpuluh ribu tahun.
"Kini sesetengah penyelidik telah mendedahkan bukti mengejutkan bahawa Zaman Ais boleh tercetus dalam tempoh 10 tahun akan datang," katanya yang merupakan pelopor penyelidikan perubahan iklim yang dicetuskan oleh matahari.
Dalam temu bual yang berlangsung pada Mac 2011 itu, Kukla berpendapat, manusia perlu bersedia menghadapi Zaman Ais yang dijangka berlaku dalam masa kurang dari 10 tahun.
"Orbit mengelilingi matahari menjadi daya penggerak utama di sebalik pembentukan glasier pada Zaman Ais.
"Hubungan ini cukup jelas dan konsisten untuk dianggap sebagai sebab paling munasabah jika kita bakal berdepan dengan Zaman Ais," katanya.
Teori penyelidikan itu mungkin ada benarnya. Eropah kini bukan sahaja dicengkam kesejukan melampau tetapi dilitupi ais yang merencatkan pelbagai aktiviti kehidupan manusia.
Cuaca buruk melampau yang berlaku itu turut melumpuhkan sistem penerbangan dan pengangkutan air di timur Eropah.
KEBANYAKAN sungai di negara Eropah timur mula membeku dan berbahaya kepada kapal.
Terbaru, sungai paling sibuk di Eropah iaitu Sungai Danube kini terpaksa ditutup kepada semua pelayaran setelah ia membeku.
Sungai sepanjang 2,860 kilomter (km) yang merentasi 10 negara itu merupakan medium utama kepada pengangkutan air, perikanan dan industri pengairan.
Sebanyak 244 kapal tersadai di pelabuhan sungai yang mengalir ke Laut Hitam itu manakala pasukan penyelamat Ukraine di Croatia menyelamatkan anak kapal yang terperangkap dalam salji sejak Jumaat lalu.
