Several hundred cars were stranded early Thursday in Sweden and Denmark due to heavy snowfall linked to a cold wave that swept the region, local authorities said, while many train services were canceled in Norway, AFP and Agerpres reported.

In Sweden, army troops were deployed to support emergency services in rescue operations for drivers stranded between Gorby and Kristianstad in the southern county of Scania. Around 10:30 a.m. local time, all people, except the truck drivers, were evacuated from the road, emergency services said at the scene.

“About a hundred people are in a social center opened by the municipality of Horby”, where the temperature reached minus 5 degrees Celsius around 05:00, the police of the southern region reported on their website. On the night from Wednesday to Thursday, these people were provided with food, as well as “some cases of illness were treated”, the police said.

The day before, almost a thousand vehicles were stuck in the snow on this road, which remains closed to traffic until Friday morning, as announced by the Swedish Transport Administration. Police have asked residents to avoid driving in the region and in some areas of neighboring Denmark.

It is also not recommended to drive around the Danish city of Aarhus, the second largest in the country, where traffic jams stretch for 30 kilometers.

“The roads are causing big problems (…) many drivers were stuck in queues for several hours,” Danish police said on social network X, formerly Twitter.

“So think twice and stay at home,” urged Copenhagen authorities.

Minus 40 degrees Celsius in Norway and Finland

According to the meteorological institute DMI, a half-meter layer of snow fell in Denmark, which has not been recorded since 2011.

In Norway, in the extreme north of the Sami, at night in Kautokeino, the thermometer reached a minimum value of -41.6 degrees Celsius. Schools remained closed in several municipalities in the south of the country due to traffic problems after heavy snowfall in the past few days. Some schools will also be closed on Friday.

Drivers in the region were urged by police not to drive, and all rail services between Oslo and Kristiansand (south) were also cancelled.

In the capital of Norway, the temperature is expected to drop to -25 degrees Celsius on Saturday. In Finland, a new cold record was broken in Enontekio, in the north-west of the country, where the thermometer showed -42.1 degrees Celsius.