BERLIN (AP) — All flights were suspended at Munich Airport on Saturday after a winter storm dumped snow on southern Germany and parts of Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic, affecting travel through the region.
After initially announcing that air traffic would be suspended until noon on Saturday, the airport later announced that flights would be canceled until six o’clock on Sunday morning. Other airports in the region, including the Swiss financial capital Zurich, also announced weather-related delays and cancellations.
German National Railways said that trains to and from Munich Central Station also stopped, and passengers were advised to postpone their trips or change their route. The German news agency reported that some passengers in Munich and the nearby city of Ulm spent Friday night on trains due to the stoppage.
No buses or trams were running as of Saturday afternoon, Munich’s local transport authority said. Some subway and regional train lines were also affected by the weather.
Bayernwerk Public Services told German news agency DPA that fallen trees had left “several thousand” people without power across the state of Bavaria.
Bundesliga officials also announced that the soccer match between Bayern Munich and Union Berlin, which was scheduled to be played Saturday afternoon in Munich, will take place. canceled.
Police in Lower Bavaria, the region northwest of Munich, said they responded to 350 snow and ice-related accidents between Friday night and Saturday morning, some of which resulted in minor to moderate injuries.
In Austria and Switzerland, new snowfall prompted officials to sound the alarm about the danger of avalanches. The provinces of Tyrol and Vorarlberg in western Austria raised their avalanche warnings to the second highest level after the region received up to 50 cm (20 inches) of snow overnight.
Austrian railway company OeBB said on Saturday afternoon that various parts of its lines across the country were closed due to the storm.
In the Czech Republic, the main highway and some other roads were closed for hours, trains and public transportation faced delays and cancellations, and more than 15,000 households were without power.
The main D1 highway connecting the capital, Prague, to the second-largest city, Brno, was at a standstill for hours after an accident caused a 20-kilometer (12.4-mile) long line of trucks. Traffic jams also hit other parts of the highway in addition to the D5 road, which connects Prague to Germany.
A number of express and regional trains were forced to stop in the southern part of the country, as cross-border trains from neighboring Austria and Germany did not operate, and some roads were expected to remain closed throughout the day.
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