Italy Crippled by Winter Storm With Snow as Far South as Naples
February 06, 2012, 1:28 AM ESTBy Andrew Davis
Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) -- A winter storm battered much of Italy, bringing arctic temperatures to the north and snow as far south as Naples, disrupting transport and commerce across the country.
Rome got between six and eight inches of snow, the most in more than a quarter century, downing trees, snarling traffic and leaving shops shuttered. Some vehicles were trapped for 10 hours on the ring road that surrounds the capital and trucks were forced to pull off highways in much of the center and north of the country, SKYTG24 reported.
Temperatures at Malpensa Airport outside Milan dropped to minus 18 Celsius (0.4 degree Fahrenheit). The average low for February is 2 Celsius with a high of 8 degrees, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“Grab a shovel and let’s liberate the city together,” Rome’s Mayor Gianni Alemanno said. Civil protection authorities distributed 2,000 shovels in piazzas in the city center to Romans willing to help with the cleanup.
Alemanno had ordered schools closed yesterday in anticipation of the snow, which began falling heavily by midday and continued through the night.
The storm also brought some rail lines to a halt with one train trapped with more than 100 passengers on board near the town of Carsoli, SKYTG24 reported.
--Editors: Sara Marley, Linda Shen
To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Davis in Rome at abdavis@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Sara Marley at smarley1@bloomberg.net
