Freezing temperatures, snow sock north Africa
ALGIERS (AFP) Jan 27, 2005
Heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures hit north Africa Thursday, as a cold snap that has paralyzed large parts of northern Algeria and killed 13 people spread to the highlands of Morocco and Tunisia.
Snow fell in the capital Algiers, a rarity, causing serious traffic jams, and again in several towns and cities along or near the coast, among them Constantine, Tizi Ouzou and Skikda, sending residents scurrying for shelter.
The winter storms closed many roads to traffic, and a number of regions were completely cut off from the outside with snow levels rising to more than one meter (some three and a half feet).
Wind speeds reached up to 70 kilometers per hour (45 miles per hour), making the wind chill effect that much more noticeable on the third day of winter weather.
Horrible driving conditions saw the accident rate jump, with the civil protection service announcing Thursday that 13 people had died and 47 were injured in crashes in a 24-hour period.
An estimated 1,000 travelers were reported stranded by snow in various regions, and had to spend the night in schools and other public buildings.
Some flights out of Algiers' main airport and other cities were delayed, officials said.
"I've never seen so much snow fall for so long in Algiers," a local resident in his 50s said.
In some more mountainous parts of Tunisia, where temperatures also dropped sharply, local farmers said they had not seen so much snow fall in a half a century.
While the sun was shining in Tunis it remained very cold, with some papers labeling the weather "Siberian." Near the Algerian border in the northwest heavy snow fell overnight, as it did in the coastal town of Tabarka.
In Morocco meteorologists forecast heavy snow for Thursday and Friday in the northern plateaus and the Atlas mountain range in the south, warning that temperatures would drop significantly.
