December 31, 2001	Monday	Shawwal 15, 1422

STRASBOURG, Dec 30: Heavy snow and flooding has hit western and central Europe resulting in at least two deaths, as well as causing major damage and travel disruption.

A man was found dead on Sunday after an avalanche hit a mountain chalet near Banska Bystrica, in central Slovakia, while a young boy died late on Saturday when a mudslide partially covered the house where he was sleeping in the Vosges upland region of eastern France.

Elsewhere in France, heavy flooding hit northeastern areas while the southeastern village of Grosmagny, in the Belfort region near the Swiss and German borders, was hit by a freak wave when a protective dyke burst.

Witnesses reported seeing an 80-centimetre high wall of water heading for the village where it caused widespread damage and cut off access roads.

The national SNCF rail service reported lines closed in many areas and a three-hour delay for a high-speed train between Nice and Metz Sunday morning.

Throughout the Vosges region, conditions remained difficult on Sunday as firefighters, hampered by roads blocked by floods, fought to free people trapped in their homes.

French weather services were predicting more sub-zero temperatures for Sunday night with icy conditions expected to cause further problems for drivers.

In Germany, heavy snow and rain hit road and rail traffic in the south of the country with 500 passengers evacuated from trains and forced to spend the night in schools and other communal buildings after fallen trees blocked lines in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

Stuttgart police described the situation in northern parts of the same region as “chaotic”, with many roads impassable, again because of fallen trees.—AFP