Freak snowfalls and ice stranded more than 15,000 vehicles in the French Alps on Sunday, where two people died in the extreme weather conditions and crowds of skiers, including many British holidaymakers, bedded down at Chambéry airport.
Local authorities across four French départements, where an orange weather alert – the second highest – was in force on Sunday, opened makeshift emergency centres on Saturday night in gyms and schools that were quickly overwhelmed by frustrated motorists. Some families spent the night in their cars, blocked in huge traffic jams on the main routes leading in and out of the Alpine ski resorts.
Angry tourists interviewed by French media accused authorities of a disorganised response to the extreme weather and of failing to keep them informed. “It was horrendous,” one woman told France2. “There was no police, and no information.” Others took to Twitter to complain, posting pictures of the “hell” at Chambéry airport. Authorities said that up to 15,000 people had gone to the 83 emergency centres in Savoie.
Some of the worst traffic jams were around Moutiers, the gateway to many of the ski resorts in Savoie. British tourist Rachel Huelin, returning from a ski holiday at Val Thorens, told the Guardian that on Saturday it took her and her husband 12 hours to drive down from their mountain resort to Moutiers, about 20 miles away.
“We couldn’t see any reason and nobody seemed to know, except that the road hadn’t been cleared. We only saw a couple of snowploughs,” she said. The couple stayed overnight with friends in Aix-les-Bains – which they reached at 11pm – and were heading north across France on Sunday.
Authorities seem to have been unprepared for the heavy snowfall, which came after resorts had closed many slopes last week owing to a lack of snow. On Saturday, 80cm of snow fell on the slopes above 800 metres, and 30cm lower down.
By Sunday morning, the snow had stopped, although weather forecasters were predicting more black ice in sub-zero temperatures, and snow later in the day in the mountains. For those who managed to reach the ski slopes, there were warnings of possible avalanches. One skier was killed on Sunday in an avalanche at the Auron resort in the Alpes-Maritimes, while skiing off piste.
Traffic was still backed up on Sunday on the main roads with motorists determined to reach their holiday destinations. One driver near Albertville said he had driven 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) in two hours. Stores selling snow chains quickly sold out, with one salesman saying he had never seen such panic-buying of the equipment, which is obligatory in the region.
The four départements affected by the weather alert on Sunday were Ain, Isère, Savoie and Haute Savoie. A 27-yea-old man fell to his death on Saturday in the Belledonne mountain range in Isère when his car slipped off a snow-covered road.
