Heavy overnight snowfall paralysed transport connections in the southern German state of Bavaria on Saturday morning, leaving thousands of travellers stranded, some of them on trains halted by the weather front, publishes DPA.
Other parts of the country also experienced heavy snow and ice, with conditions expected to deteriorate further on Saturday night. At least one person died as a result of the condition when a car skidded and collided with a van.
Winter services were working to restore safe operations at Munich Airport, where flights were suspended until 6 am (0500 GMT) on Sunday. Passengers due to travel on Sunday were advised to check the status of their flight before travelling to the airport.
A Lufthansa spokesman said the closure of air traffic in Munich would have an impact on other airports. For example, there are also significant restrictions in Frankfurt.
Rail transport was also affected, particularly around Munich, as fallen trees blocked tracks and overhead lines were iced over.
Train services to and from Munich Central Station were initially cancelled, including connections with the Austrian cities of Salzburg and Innsbruck. Passengers in Ulm and Munich had to spend the night on immobilized trains.
Services in southern Germany were expected to remain severely disrupted until Monday, a railway spokeswoman told dpa.
Underground trains, buses and trams also initially stopped running in the Bavarian capital. Scores of traffic accidents were reported throughout the state and there were long queues of vehicles on major roads, including a 30-kilometre tailback on the A8 motorway from Munich to Salzburg.
Also there were outages in parts of the German state of Bavaria on Saturday, leaving thousands of households in the dark as the cold weather spell continues. The main areas affected were around Munich, but also a number of towns to the south, east and north of the city, after trees fell on power lines and lines were damaged or severed by the weight of the snow. Warnings were issued to the public not to approach cables that were hanging down or lying on the ground.
The police in Upper Bavaria called on the population to stay at home while the emergency and snow-clearing services worked to restore normal life. Many smaller roads outside of built-up areas were heavily snow-covered or blocked by fallen trees.
Authorities also advised people to stay out of forests due to the risk of the weight of snow bringing down trees.
