On Monday morning, February 5, 43 cm-height snowdrifts appeared on the streets of Moscow. Over the weekend, 122% of the monthly rainfall fell in the city. On Sunday, an absolute record was set.
The current snowfall had brought the maximum amount of precipitation in the history of meteorological observations, beating the previous record set in 1957. Back then, 11.2 mm of precipitation dropped in the water equivalent, the Moscow and Region Weather Bureau noted.
Due to the difficult weather conditions on Monday, children were allowed to skip the lessons with the parents' consent. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin urged citizens not to use private cars as it may pose a threat to their life.
Strong snowfall began in the afternoon on February 3. During the day, more than half of the monthly norm of precipitation fell in Moscow. Wind gusts reached up to 18 m/s.
The number of trees knocked down by snow and ice had exceeded two thousand, Sergei Sobyanin said. Fallen trees damaged more than 100 cars. In the Nizhnelikhoborsky driveway, the tree crashed on six cars at once.
Due to heavy snowfall, traffic in Moscow and in the region was changed. The railway traffic on the Gorkovsky direction of Moscow Railway was stopped for some time because of the trees dangerously hanging over the railway tracks under the weight of snow.
There were some delays in the work of urban transport on the Filevskaya subway line because of the falling trees - twice in the morning and in the evening. In one case, the tree trunk dropped on a train. Fortunately, there were no passengers inside.
Curiously enough, the snowfall did not lead to any fatal consequences on the highways. On Sunday afternoon, traffic jams reached 6 points, then dropped to 4.
Foreigners were overexcited after seeing the photos and videos of snow-covered Moscow. They called it snow armageddon.
Pyotr Biryukov, Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Housing, Utilities, and Amenities, noted that it would take about nine days to clean up the fallen snow. Even the military equipment was used for that purpose. According to the Defense Ministry, a hundred soldiers and three units of special equipment, including two graders and one road vehicle from the Western military district, were involved in snow-removal work.
Unfortunately, there were casualties. Sergei Sobyanin said that on Saturday, one person was killed by a falling tree. About 10 people were injured.
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