OREANDA-NEWS. Strong winds, snowfall and ice in northern and central Germany led to a transport collapse. In the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony on Sunday, February 7, due to these weather events, a partial ban on driving trucks on the autobahns was introduced. The measure is valid until 12:00 (14:00 Moscow Time) on February 8.

In a number of cities, there are interruptions in the work of public transport. And on the autobahns in the Monchengladbach area, ice caused several road accidents: six cars were damaged, nine people were taken to hospitals, the police said. On several autobahns in Germany, trucks got stuck in the snow.

Rail traffic in Germany was significantly restricted on February 7. On February 8, the situation is not expected to improve, Deutsche Bahn warned. The Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Andreas Scheuer, urged his compatriots to stay at home as much as possible.

In many areas of Bavaria, on January 8, due to snow, lessons in schools were canceled. However, this does not exclude distance learning. The thickness of the snow cover in the north of the federal state in the next 12 hours may reach 25 centimeters, warned the German Meteorological Service.

Due to the lockdown in force in the country until February 14, the media dubbed the consequences of the current disaster «flockdown» (the German word «Flocken» can be translated as «flakes»).