The snow began to fall slowly but steadily on Russia’s northern capital, St. Petersburg, a week ago. Local residents were surprised as there has been no snowfall like this for nearly 130 years and in recent years they have hardly seen any snow at all on New Year’s.
The snow began to fall slowly but steadily on Russia’s northern capital, St. Petersburg, a week ago. Local residents were surprised as there has been no snowfall like this for nearly 130 years and in recent years they have hardly seen any snow at all on New Year’s.
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© RIA Novosti . Alexey Danichev
There has been more than the regular monthly snowfall, a total of around 70 cm, since December 20. Authorities urged residents to avoid driving their cars. Pedestrians were walking in each other’s footsteps across the snow.
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© RIA Novosti . Alexey Danichev
Car owners who failed to dig their vehicles out of the snow had to use public transportation, which became markedly more crowded.
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© RIA Novosti . Alexey Danichev
In the first few days, the number of passengers traveling during the morning rush hour doubled.
The city’s mayor, Valentina Matviyenko, admitted in a live radio broadcast on Sunday that St. Petersburg’s transportation system was nearing a collapse, while the utility services were failing to clear away the snow.
St. Petersburg’s mayor noticed that in Europe residents helped the authorities during extreme snowfalls.
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© RIA Novosti . Alexey Danichev
The city mayor’s office additionally purchased 2,000 shovels and appealed to the local residents to join in with the snow clearing operations.
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© RIA Novosti . Alexey Danichev
The city’s residents were divided over the situation caused by the snowfall, with some of them buying shovels to dig out their cars and clear snow away around them, while others voiced discontent.
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© RIA Novosti . Alexey Danichev
Ads began to appear on the Internet offering paid snow clearing services for St. Petersburg car owners. The fees charged depended on the vehicle type. Digging out a “small car” would cost from 500 rubles to 1,000 ($16-$32), while an "average-sized" one: from 700 rubles to 1,200 rubles, and a "big" one from 900 rubles to 1,400 rubles. "Digging out a truck" was priced at between 1,100 rubles and 2,100 rubles "depending on the actual vehicle size", while freeing a heavy truck was priced at between 1,600 rubles and 2,600 rubles.
It will take around a week to remove the 2.5 million cubic meters of snow from St. Petersburg. Pictured: Snow clearing at Pulkovo Airport.
