Motorists stranded as heavy snow blankets French Alps

Heavy snowfall and freezing conditions in the French Alps left about 15,000 drivers stranded overnight into Sunday, forcing many to pass the night in their cars and prompting officials to open emergency shelters.

The snow and ice hit as a rush of vacationers were heading to and leaving ski resorts in the Savoie region in southeastern France, where authorities set up shelters in at least 12 towns.

The snow, freezing rain and icy conditions caused the death of a 27-year-old man, whose car slid into a ravine in the Belledonne mountain range.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve urged drivers "to exercise the utmost caution" and asked those who could delay their trips to do so.

The country declared an orange weather alert - one step under the maximum red alert - in 19 regional departments.

One driver stuck in his car on a freeway in the Alps with four passengers, Kevin Clavel, said: "To go 130 kilometers, it's taken us 10 hours."

France's meteorological services said they expected more snowfall and "significant refreezing" overnight and warned of slippery roads.

Elsewhere in France, it was wind and not snow that wreaked havoc for vacation travelers.

Storms packing gusts of up to 160 km per hour forced the temporary closure of the port of Calais on the English Channel and the suspension of car ferries to and from Britain.

A few kilometers outside the industrial northern city, thousands of illegal migrants living in makeshift camps struggled through a second night of freezing temperatures.

"The conditions outside are hellish in the 'jungles'," said David Lacour, the director of Solid'R, which is running a care center to help migrants survive the cold.

"The storm blew away a lot of tents - some now have nothing," said Lacour.

Mattresses line the floor of the old warehouse, once used to store flowers, now filled with groups of migrants, some playing cards, some sleeping, some trying to dry their soaked shoes and socks after walking for more than an hour to get there.

(China Daily 12/29/2014 page11)