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FOUR FOUND DEAD AS FREEZING WEATHER PUTS 39 DEPARTMENTS ON ORANGE ALERT SCHOOL transport was cancelled across a large part of the west of France today after a weekend of poor road and
weather conditions and 39 departments in the east are still on orange alert. There is little sign of any let-up with tonight and tomorrow night expected to continue extremely cold. Although
the snow has stopped, temperatures are negative across the vast majority of the country - with just Brittany getting above zero this morning at 6C while Clermont Ferrand was at -17C. So far
four people have died in the cold: an 11-year-old boy died who fell through ice on a frozen pond in Corcieux (Vosges), and a homeless man in Champigny-sur-Marne (Val-de-Marne); and two
Alzheimer's sufferers, an 82-year-old man who was found on a country track in Bitche (Moselle) and woman in her 70s who was found dead in Saint-Augustin park, Toulouse, after wandering
out of her care home wearing only pyjamas. Prefects halted school transport in a wide band across the country from Pas-de-Calais to Aude. The majority of departments in Poitou-Charentes,
Limousin and Aquitaine cancelled school buses due to widespread black ice - although schools remained open for children who made it in. In Midi-Pyrénées only Aveyron had school buses
running. Yesterday snow falls of 10cm were reported across western departments from Poitou-Charentes to Aquitaine before moving towards Normandy, Ile-de-France and Pas-de-Calais. The orange
alert warning of severe cold conditions and for snow and ice was given for the regions of Alsace, Auvergne, Bourgogne, Champagne-Ardenne, France-Comté, Limousin, Lorraine and Rhône-Alpes
plus the departments of Aisne, Hautes-Alpes, Aveyron, Lozère, Nord and Tarn. TGVs are running at reduced speeds as a safety measure, with lines west out of Paris Montparnasse seeing longest
delays. SNCF was warning of delays of up to 30 minutes for other services. Photo: Renaud Camus-Flickr