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Northern Hemisphere Has A Cold Weekend
Tokyo (AFP) Dec 18, 2005 Heavy snow in Japan caused one death and derailed a train Sunday, with the weather agency expecting cold conditions to continue. A 67-year-old man was found dead in Fukui prefecture in western Japan after he apparently fell to the ground while shovelling snow from the roof of his house, local police said. Nearly two meters (6.5 feet) of snow had fallen in the area. A 60-year-old man in central Ishikawa prefecture also fell from the roof of his house while clearing snow. He was in a serious condition and remained unconscious, police said. At least five other people have died in Fukui alone this winter season by falling from roofs or suffering strokes or cardiac arrests while clearing snow. Sunday morning, a train in Fukui derailed after running over compacted snow. None of its 35 passengers was injured, according to Fukui Railway Co. Nearly 100 domestic flights were cancelled due to snow, according to national broadcaster Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK). Shinkansen bullet trains were running at slower speeds than usual due to snow. Across the nation, heavy snowfalls toppled powerlines and caused power outages for tens of thousands of households. The meteorological agency has issued warnings of heavy snow, avalanches and strong winds across the country.
related report "The toll has now gone up to 29 in the state as four more people died of cold overnight," police spokesman Surendra Srivastava said in Lucknow, the provincial capital of Uttar Pradesh. Another cold-related death was reported in the neighbouring state of Haryana, officials said. Most of the victims in Uttar Pradesh -- India's most populous state and one of its poorest -- were homeless, Srivastava said, as the local administration ordered authorities to move beggars into government-run winter shelters. "Keeping in view the bad weather and the increasing number of deaths, the process has already started," announced state relief commissioner A.K. Singh. The temperature overnight in Lucknow slid to three degrees Celsius (37.4 degrees Fahrenheit), the weather office said, adding the mercury was likely to dip further across Uttar Pradesh. Temperatures also fell below minus 3.6 degrees Celsius in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, where tens of thousands of people were made homeless by the October 8 earthquake that ravaged the Himalayan region. In the Indian capital New Delhi, the weather office announced a slight respite from the chill but warned the somewhat warmer temperatures would bring fog this week, which every year disrupts road, air and rail traffic. The winter takes a heavy toll each year around South Asia, as poverty forces many homeless people to live outdoors or in flimsy shacks designed for the equally hot summers.
related report More than 41 centimetres (16 inches) of snow fell between early morning and mid-afternoon, Andre Cantin, a spokesperson for Canada's meteorological service, told AFP. By morning, up to seven centimetres (2.7 inches) of snow was accumulating hourly, he said. The storm will go down in history as one of the biggest snowfalls in a single day in Montreal in December, beating an old record of 37.8 centimetres (15 inches) on December 27, 1969. Some 200 flights were cancelled at the Trudeau International Airport, which remained closed despite improved weather late in the day, according to airport officials. Clearing the streets and sidewalks of snow in the city was expected to take some 3,000 staff five days, according to the mayor of Montreal. About 2.14 metres (seven feet) of snow usually falls on the city each winter.
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Ten More Die In North Indian Cold Wave
New Delhi (AFP) Jan 09, 2006Ten more people died of the cold in northern India as homeless people lit bonfires to ward off the chill in cities shivering since the onset of an extreme cold spell last weekend, officials said Monday. |
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