I made a snowstorm: extreme snowfall led to transport collapse

Due to Cyclone Frances, Muscovites faced an unprecedented transport collapse. Airports have particularly serious problems. Sheremetyevo Airport was closed for the arrival of aircraft due to weather conditions until 10 a.m. Moscow time, passengers of the Perm — Moscow flight were forced to spend seven hours on the plane, and now they cannot receive their luggage. The management of some airlines has decided to deliver passengers' suitcases to their home addresses. There are big problems on Moscow and federal highways. Read more about the consequences of extreme snowfall in the Izvestia article.

Airport closures

Moscow airports are temporarily closed due to heavy snowfall. Sheremetyevo Airport was temporarily closed at 5 a.m. for aircraft arrivals due to adverse weather conditions — first until 8 a.m., and then restrictions were extended until 10.00 a.m.

Incoming flights began to be redirected to alternate airfields in Vnukovo (in particular, from Yerevan and Antalya) or Nizhny Novgorod (flight from Samara). Aeroflot promised to provide transit passengers with transportation to Sheremetyevo for further flights.

Other airports in the capital were not closed, but dozens of flights were delayed and canceled there: for example, the Tel Aviv-Moscow flight to Domodedovo was delayed by six hours, Chita — Moscow by almost 12 hours, and the Minvod airliner arrived almost 10 hours late. About 10 flights have been canceled in Vnukovo since the evening of January 9, and almost all the others are delayed.

Witnesses report that planes had to be dug out with shovels at Domodedovo Airport, so the flight to Norilsk got bogged down in a snowdrift. Passengers watched the runway being cleared from the plane.

On January 9, 28 flights were canceled in Moscow and more than 50 were delayed, Rostransnadzor reported.

What caused the flight delays

One of the flights that had huge problems was Perm-Moscow SU 1769. His flight was severely delayed, then the plane circled over the capital for about 40 minutes and landed around midnight. Passengers were able to get off the liner only around 6 a.m. People were told that the plane had been looking for a parking space for a long time, then there was not enough ramp, bus and airport staff to meet passengers. They were also warned that there would be problems with baggage collection — there were not enough staff and cars to get it from the plane to the airport on time.

Witnesses of the events reported that the planes were landing at that time, but many also remained in their seats, not letting passengers out.

Izvestia correspondents at the scene report that baggage collection is delayed for several hours — at five in the morning, suitcases were received by passengers who arrived on the evening of January 9th. There are a lot of people at the airport, huge queues, many are outraged because they need to fly further.

One of the passengers on the Phuket — Moscow flight found himself in the cold wearing only a T-shirt due to the collapse at the airport. He put his jacket in his luggage and thought he would get dressed on arrival. He had already been informed that his luggage would be delivered to his home.

Sheremetyevo Airport said that due to the delay in baggage handling and delivery, "a significant number of arriving passengers have accumulated in Terminal C." Water and sandwiches were provided for them, and the airport's operational headquarters, together with Aeroflot and Rossiya Airlines, decided to personally deliver luggage to passengers' addresses.

"Passengers of Aeroflot and Rossiya airlines who do not have urgent necessities and items subject to customs declaration in their luggage can leave the baggage claim area and leave the airport. Your luggage will be delivered to your address. To do this, fill out the feedback form on the website. aeroflot.ru by specifying your flight data and delivery address," the Sheremetyevo operations center said.

Passengers of other airlines have to wait further in the baggage claim area.

According to eyewitnesses, many suitcases are just standing near the ribbons — people did not wait for their belongings and just went home.

Collapse on the tracks

Due to the snowfall, huge problems also arose on the highways — for example, a traffic jam on Yaroslavskoye highway near Pereslavl-Zalessky stretched for 23 km. Because of this, the journey from Moscow to Yaroslavl takes more than eight hours. The reason was trucks that got up on the slopes, said Mikhail Evraev, Governor of the Yaroslavl region.

"All possible actions are being taken to resume full—fledged traffic, and now the situation on the road is gradually stabilizing," the head of the region said.

A heating point has been set up on the federal highway, where you can keep warm, drink hot tea and charge your phones. Employees of the regional Ministry of Emergency Situations bring drinks and food on snowmobiles, offer to stay at a temporary accommodation center in Pereslavl-Zalessky.

In New Moscow, passers-by had to push buses so that they could drive through snowdrifts. And cars began to get stuck on the MKAD.

"In some sections, the road is completely paralyzed. The inside is completely blocked. Drivers are forced to stop, turn around, and drive on the other side," the Izvestia correspondent reported.

I had to stand in traffic for several hours.

The capital's services are working at full capacity, eliminating the consequences of the snowfall. On the eve of the Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Housing and Communal Services and landscaping, Peter Biryukov, reported that about 130,000 people and more than 15,000 pieces of equipment were involved in snow removal in Moscow amid difficult weather conditions.

Work is also actively underway on the railway: special trains are clearing the train tracks.

How much snow has fallen

On Friday, the daily record for the amount of snow in January was updated in Moscow. It lasted for half a century.

"On January 9, 21.4 mm of precipitation fell at the main weather station of the capital, located at VDNKh, and the previous absolute maximum precipitation for this date was 12.9 mm and was recorded in 1976," the Hydrometeorological Center of Russia reported.

22 mm of precipitation is almost half of the monthly norm.

Cyclone Frances hit Moscow on January 8.