More than 700 flights canceled as southern Germany sees heavy snowfall

By Benjamin Brown and Sophie Tanno, CNN

(CNN) — Around 760 flights were canceled at Munich Airport on Saturday due to heavy snowfall, an airport spokesperson told CNN.

Buses, trams, and some train services in Munich were also suspended due to the snow, according to Munich’s public transport company.

Munich’s central train station was closed for arrivals, while long-distance services have been suspended entirely, according to Germany’s national railway company Deutsche Bahn.

Deutsche Bahn warned that rail traffic would be “impacted severely” until Monday.

Germany’s regional Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that huge numbers of travellers have been left stranded at Munich’s main station.

“I’ve been sitting here in this place since one o’clock in the morning,” one passenger told the publication, while another said: “We just want to know if there’s still a chance of getting out of here.”

Police on Saturday asked people in Munich not to use their cars unless absolutely necessary, while residents of some parts of southern Bavaria were told not to leave their homes at all, a spokesperson for Munich police told CNN.

A football match between Bayern Munich and Union Berlin, which was set to take place on Saturday, was also postponed, with “safety risks and the traffic situation [making] cancellation” unavoidable, according to a statement by Bayern Munich.

Bavarian public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk on Saturday reported that the 44 centimetres of snow in Munich was the most snowfall ever recorded in December in the Bavarian state capital since records began in 1933.

The-CNN-Wire
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