Czechs and Slovaks see storms disrupt traffic and cut power
(Reuters) – Gale-force winds and snow storms cut power supplies to thousands of Czech households on Saturday and closed the main east-west highway in Slovakia, officials and local media said.
In Slovakia’s Zilina region, authorities called on people to stay indoors and avoid non-essential travel, especially to the north of the country, as winds reached more than 120 km per hour in the Tatra mountains.
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A section of the D1 highway near the Tatra mountains was closed for several hours after around 30 cars were caught in an accident due to heavy snowfall, local media reported.
In the Czech Republic, 15,000 households were still without electricity in the afternoon – down from around 90,000 in the morning – after strong winds brought down trees and disrupted the grid, while dozens of train services were canceled, CTK news agency reported.
(Reporting by Robert Muller; Editing by David Holmes)