The Big Freeze No respite expected until the weekend News Monday, January 11, 2010 D Brrilliant: Dog walkers stroll across the frozen pond in Herbert Park, Dublin while, inset, a handwritten notice provides a chilling warning Schools to remain closed for 3 days SCHOOLS are expected to remain closed until Thursday as further snowfalls are forecast. Minister for Education Batt OKeeffe announced the decision to close all 4,000 primary and post-primary schools for the next three days. He said it was based on concerns for the health and safety of children in particularly exceptional circumstances. Eighty per cent of schools remained closed last week, but Mr OKeeffe said he wanted to bring clarity and certainty to the position. RT News ice fall guys internet hit IT WAS the thud... Ah, s**t that was heard all over Ireland. Now the RT News ice fall guy has become the latest person to achieve Facebook celebrity status. The unwitting star became an instant hit when he walked by a cynically placed RT news camera and fell on the ice. An attempt to track down the unsure- footed man has already attracted almost 1,000 members on Facebook, while splinter groups I hate it when I fall on RT and I saw the ice guy fall on RT News have gathered hundreds of fans. The YouTube slip clip is heading towards 250,000 views, while the obligatory dance mix has garnered more than 8,000 hits. At least two of the comments left on Facebook and YouTube were genuinely concerned for the mans wellbeing. However, most were made up of LOLs and declarations of legend status. Meanwhile, the Irish Red Cross is suggesting waterproof boots with rubber soles and solid ankle support to prevent slips on the ice. It also recommends an old pair of socks worn over shoes for extra grip but this could make you look silly, and give you less chance of becoming an internet superstar. Slip up: A man falls on the ice during an RT News report den at the weekend. Hundreds of road accidents were reported in Ger- many after a second day of heavy snowfall and at Frankfurt airport, 61 flights were cancelled and more than 400 people spent the night at the airport. The ferry service across the Baltic to Scandinavia was cancelled, and sea swells flooded streets in the cities of Flensburg and Luebeck while threatening to break levees in the vil- lage of Dahmeshoeved. In south-eastern France, about 800 people spent the night at an airport in Lyon, after flights in and out of the city were halted at the weekend, while freezing rain overnight made a virtual skating rink out of a highway near Tours in the Loire Valley, with some cars skidding out of control and crashing into road barriers. In southern Poland, about 80,000 people were without electricity yes- terday after snow-laden tree branches cracked, damaging power lines. Strong winds and snowfall caused chaos on the roads in southern Denmark and in Croatia, floods forced some residents in the town of Metkovic to use boats to reach poll- ing stations during yesterdays presi- dential runoff. 50 calls to helpline as elderly are left housebound AN EMERGENCY helpline for older people received more than 50 calls over the weekend from distressed pensioners left housebound because of the extreme weather. The callers said they had not received any visitors and were running into difficulties, with problems including frozen or burst water pipes and the need to get shopping and vital medicine. The hotline, set up by Age Action and the Society of St Vincent de Paul, also had 420 calls offering help. Eamon Timmins, Age Action spokesman, said: The main problems being experienced by older people were frozen or broken water pipes, central heating boilers which had broken down, the need to get shopping or prescriptions, and the need to be brought to clinics and hospitals for essential tests, treatments or appointments. In one case a group of residents were told the council was not in a position to deal with frozen pipes until after the thaw and that these older people should buy bottled water, he said. We must remind the public that this service is not a substitute for people continuing to visit older people in their locality, especially older people who live alone, who may not have families to visit them, or who may be living in remote areas, he said. Very few people can survive for three weeks without leaving their homes, without some support, he warned. Age Action has also called on local authorities to help protect elderly people, especially by helping to fix frozen pipes as quickly as possible. Europe grinds to a halt amid heavy snowfallsBy Kirsten Grieshaber EUROPEANS were struggling to re- store roads and railways yesterday after heavy snow caused hundreds of traffic accidents, halted flights from Germany and France, downed power lines in Poland and trapped more than 160 people overnight on a fro- zen German highway. The 148 adults and 19 children stuck on Germanys coastal A20 highway survived by running their car engines until rescuers using snow ploughs and excavators pushed through 2-metre (6.5-foot) drifts to free them yesterday morning. In the UK, the number of weather- related deaths rose to 26 after a woman was found lying in the snow in a wooded area in northern England, and a 90-year-old woman froze to death after falling in her gar- A woman skis past the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin yesterday Picture: Reuters index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html