Snow and ice cause closure of Eiffel Tower

A severe winter storm covered many parts of Europe with snow on Monday, and in Paris icy conditions caused the closure of the Eiffel Tower and saw numerous flight cancellations.

As much as four inches of snow fell in parts of France, according to the national weather service. Most parts of the country, however, including Paris saw approximately half of that amount.

In 30 regions of the country, authorities issued traffic alerts due to icy road conditions.

The Eiffel Tower, which is one of the top visitor attractions in Paris, had to be closed due to slippery conditions.

“We can’t put down salt because it’s metallic,” said the press officer for the Eiffel Tower, Isabelle Esnous. “We can’t use sand either … because it risks getting into the elevator (cogs).”

She added that it wasn’t the cold that was the problem, but the potentially dangerous slippery conditions.

At least a dozen flights had to be cancelled at Charles de Gaulle airport, outside Paris, officials reported. According to the Paris airport authority, it was bad weather in other parts of Europe that had led to the cancellations.

Airport workers had been clearing runways at both de Gaulle and Orly airports since midnight on Sunday.

Thanks to news.yahoo.com for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

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