GENEVA

Operations at Vienna International Airport were temporarily suspended on Friday due to severe winter weather, airport spokesman Peter Kleemann told local media.

“From the current perspective, individual takeoffs should be possible again from 12 noon, and landings from 1 pm,” said Kleemann.

The severe winter weather is also causing massive disruptions elsewhere. In the province of Styria, around 30,000 households were without power on Friday morning, according to local authorities.

Southern, eastern, and western Styria, as well as the Graz area, were particularly affected.

Due to the snowfall, rail traffic throughout Austria may also experience delays and cancellations, as announced by Austrian Railways (OBB) on its website.

There were several accidents and sectional closures on the Westautobahn (A1) motorway in Lower Austria.

In the city of Linz, there was a fatal accident involving a snowplow in the Ebelsberg district. Local authorities have not yet released any details.

Across the country, heavy vehicles got stuck on snow-covered roads in many areas, blocking traffic.

“We haven't seen anything like this in February in recent years,” meteorologist Marcus Wadsak told public broadcaster ZiB on Friday.

According to Wadsak, it has actually been even longer since Vienna saw this much snowfall in such a short period of time. The last time the capital experienced such a sudden onset of winter was “more than 20 years ago.”