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Roundup: All-time cold record broken at minus 28.1 degrees Celsius in Hungary

Xinhua, January 8, 2017 Adjust font size:

Hungary's all-time cold record was broken overnight, when the mercury sank to minus 28.1 degrees Celsius, registered in the hamlet of Tesa, north of Budapest and near the Slovak border, officials and weather services said Sunday.

The temperature in Budapest measured minus 18.6 degrees Celsius, which also broke an all-time cold record.

The National Weather Service issued a series of warnings to residents with highs on Sunday not expected to exceed minus 3 degrees Celsius anywhere and to plunge again overnight. It also warned of possible snow in the western part of the country accompanied by strong winds that can produce snow drifts.

Speaking on public television channel M1 on Sunday, State secretary for welfare issues Karoly Czibere said that there had been no fatalities during the two-day period of extreme cold, with all homeless people having been taken to shelters.

Extra beds were set up, he said, to accommodate people including those who traditionally remain outdoors overnight. So far the 11,000 shelter spaces have proved satisfactory, he added, but that additional spaces could be provided if necessary.

With residents called upon to report all homeless people they see, many lives have been saved, Czibere said. Residents have also reported neighbors living in unheated homes, also saving multiple lives, he added.

The human rights organization Hungarian Social Forum (MSZF) declined to give numbers in a statement issued Sunday, but claimed that about 100 people had died of cold this winter.

It called for all heated public buildings and churches to be opened to people who had no other option for staying warm. The organization also called on residents to call emergency services if they see people on the street, and to try to warm them with hot tea or soup.

The Socialist Party (MSZP) issued a statement that called for cutting the price of firewood, claiming that twice as many people had died of cold this winter than a year ago. It did not give any source for the numbers. Endit