December 23, 2009 8:14 PM

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Freezing weather continues to cause transport problems across Europe

Freezing weather which has killed more than 90 people is continuing to cause transport problems across Europe. Air, rail and road services have been severely disrupted but some routes have now resumed. Eurostar resumed a limited service and flights restarted from Europe's third biggest airport in Frankfurt on Tuesday after it was closed overnight. In Poland, where 10 people died in a single day, the winter death toll now stands at 79. The bitterly cold weather across much of the continent combined with heavy snow in some areas has caused cancellations and delays at airports and forced train lines to close. Early on Wednesday morning, at least two people were killed and dozens injured when a coach overturned on icy roads in Cornwall in South-West England. Major roads elsewhere in Europe were blocked after some regions had snowfall of up to 50 centimeters. The Eurostar crisis prompted the French Transport Ministry to order an investigation into the shut down.Meanwhile, Eurotunnel which carries vehicles under the channel between England and France, cancelled day trip bookings on Tuesday and warned that heavy traffic levels were expected through the day. In Poland, 79 people froze to death in the country since the wintry conditions began. Cold related deaths were also reported in France.The US North-East is slowly emerging from a huge winter storm which dumped up to two feet of snow in the Washington area over the weekend. One of the worst blizzards in decades had sprawled 500 miles over a dozen states, causing six deaths and widespread disruption to services. But in Philadelphia, schools wee shut as streets were still buried in snow. Power outages are still affecting nearly two lakh people in North Carolina, West Virginia and Virginia. More than 500 people remain in shelters. The storm proved milder for New York, which saw one feet of snow. All three major airports in the city are working their way back to normal after the cancellation of 1,200 flights over the weekend. Washington DC earlier saw the largest snowfall ever recorded in a single December day and southern New Jersey its highest single-storm snow in almost four years.

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