France braces for more snow as airports race to clear backlog

Paris and northern France were bracing for more freezing weather on Wednesday, as airports struggled to clear the backlog of delayed fights. Thousands of passengers were forced to spend the night in Paris’s Charles de Gaulle’s, hanging on to the slim hope of reaching their destination before Christmas.

Passengers push a car stuck in snow near the French city of Lille REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol

Paris police have told French people to leave work early and to stay off the roads this evening. France’s weather crisis centre said that between five and ten centimetres of snow are expected to fall in the evening.

France’s state weather forecaster has declared an orange alert for travellers in 20 regions in northern France on Friday, warning drivers to be very vigilant on the roads.

Around 15 percent of flights were cancelled at Paris Charles de Gaulle were expected to be cancelled on Wednesday, and civil aviation authorities are planning to cancel 20 per cent of flights on Thursday.

Charles de Gaulle’s airport says that air traffic is resuming gradually and invites travellers to consult flight information before heading to the airport. Thousands of weary passengers were forced to spend the night at Charles de Gaulle’s airport, on makeshift beds provided by French civil security.

Authorities have come under fire in France for their slow reaction to previous snowfalls, which have left drivers stranded in the vehicles snowed in on motorways.

Eurostar rail services connecting Paris and Brussels with London were slowly returning to normal on Wednesday.

Listen to our report from Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport.

Click here for more weather and traffic information.