Europe, Russia suffer cold snap

Hundreds of people have died in a cold snap across Eastern Europe, authorities said Tuesday. Some countries have called in the army to help secure food and medical supplies and set up emergency shelters for the homeless.

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Feb. 5, 2012

A woman walks by an ice-covered car on the frozen waterside promenade at the Lake Geneva in Versoix, Switzerland. A cold spell has reached Europe, and temperatures have plummeted far below zero.

Martial Trezzini / AP

Feb. 6, 2012

The sun sets over Vilnius , Lithuania, with the air temperature at 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mindaugas Kulbis / AP

Feb. 7, 2012

A dog wearing a pullover walks along a street in Strasbourg, France, as sub-freezing winter temperatures continue to hit Europe.

Vincent Kessler / Reuters

Feb. 7, 2012

Lampposts are covered in ice in the Adriatic coastal town of Senj, Croatia. Europeans across the continent have been battling more than a week of extreme weather, with thousands still trapped by snow in remote, mountain villages in the Balkans after temperatures hit 33 degrees below zero. Authorities say hundreds — mostly homeless — have died, and now the region faces the prospect of flooding caused by melting snow.

Darko Bandic / AP

Feb. 7, 2012

Ice crystals hang from a water wheel at the technical museum in Annaberg-Buchholz, eastern Germany.

Uwe Meinhold / AP

Feb. 7, 2012

A squirrel cracks a nut on a freezing winter day in Lazienki park in Warsaw. About 70 people have died from cold in Poland in the past two weeks, when temperatures dropped to 26 below zero.

Czarek Sokolowski / AP

Jan. 31, 2012

Reed sprouts are covered with thick ice at Zwischenahner Meer ind Bad Zwischenahn, a lake in northern Germany. After a period of relatively mild weather, a cold spell has reached central and eastern Europe. More than 70 people have died in a cold snap.

David Hecker / AP

Feb. 1, 2012

People walk below a frost-covered Wendelstein church, Germany's highest church, on Mount Wendelstein near Bayrischzell. Snow and temperatures close to 7 degrees Fahrenheit have hit parts of southern Germany in the past few days.

Michael Dalder / Reuters

Feb. 1, 2012

A homeless woman sits in an abandoned factory that serves as a shelter for homeless people in Prague's Vysocany district. Some countries have called in the army to help secure food and medical supplies and set up emergency shelters for the homeless. Dozens of homeless people have died.

Petr Josek / Reuters

Feb. 1, 2012

A woman looks out from a frosty window on a tram on a cold day in Minsk, Belarus. Eastern Europe's cold snap has sent temperatures plunging to 26 degrees below zero in some areas.

Sergei Grits / AP

Feb. 1, 2012

Ice covers cliffs as the waters of the Black Sea are frozen near the shore in Constanta, Romania. Low temperatures have caused power outages, traffic chaos and the closure of schools and nurseries in the region.

Vadim Ghirda / AP

Feb. 1, 2012

Ducks take off from a pond in Minsk, Belarus.

Sergei Grits / AP

Feb. 1, 2012

People walk on the frozen shores of the Black Sea at dusk in Constanta, Romania.

Vadim Ghirda / AP

Feb. 1, 2012

Homeless people brave low temperatures as they sleep under the Libbensky bridge in the Holesovice district of Prague.

Petr Josek / Reuters

Feb. 1, 2012

Leonard Canagi, 33, a homeless man who refused to go to shelter, cooks soup inside his improvised shelter in a run-down mall in Bucharest. Local police and authorities are trying to relocate homeless people to community shelters amid the cold snap.

Radu Sigheti / Reuters

Feb. 1, 2012

A homeless man stays in a large heated tent for displaced people arranged by City Hall in Prague.

Petr David Josek / AP

Feb. 1, 2012

A woman lies in a bed at a Belgrade shelter. Homeless people in Belgrade have been left with little choice but to ask for help at shelters to endure the severe cold.

Marko Drobnjakovic / AP

Feb. 1, 2012

Homeless people eat a free dinner provided by the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow. Homeless people are often treated to a hot meal by the church in cold weather in winter. In Moscow temperatures fell to minus 6 degrees.

Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP

Feb. 1, 2012

A pedestrian walks past an ice-covered window in Kosovo's capital, Pristina.

Visar Kryeziu / AP

Feb. 1, 2012

A cross-country skier makes his way through a snowy winter landscape on the Schauinsland mountain near Freiburg, in southwestern Germany.

Winfried Rothermel / AP

Feb. 1, 2012

Fishermen have put up tents on the Moscow River, with the Nikolo-Perervensky monastery in the background, in spite of the freezing temperatures in Moscow.

Mikhail Metzel / AP

Feb. 1, 2012

A child runs past a wave protection dam covered in ice as the waters of the Black Sea are frozen near the shore in Constanta, Romania.

Vadim Ghirda / AP

Feb. 1, 2012

A heating plant is seen in Minsk, Belarus, as temperatures of 5 degrees below zero hit the city.

Sergei Grits / AP

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