Greece's conservative government on Sunday defeated a censure vote in parliament over its handling of a snowstorm that buried a key Athens motorway and left thousands without electricity for days.

The motion brought forward by main opposition leader Alexis Tsipras fell nine votes short, with just 142 lawmakers in the 300-seat parliament in favour.

Tsipras, the former prime minister who was beaten by Mitsotakis in 2019 national elections, has called the government's response to the Monday snowstorm that buried Athens and other parts of Greece a "fiasco".

"Resign and call for elections," he told the PM in parliament Sunday, accusing the government of also failing in its management of the pandemic and its response to mounting energy prices.

"Greece needs a government of honesty, democracy and progress," Tsipras said.

Thousands of Athenians were trapped in their cars for hours around the capital and on the Attiki Odos ring road, the privately-run motorway into the city.

Ministers said prior assurances from the motorway's managers that there was enough heavy machinery to clear the snow was excessively optimistic, and the company's chief operating officer resigned in response.

The blizzard also knocked out power in around 200,000 households and businesses in the capital, many of them for nearly a week, with regional and local officials trading accusations for failing to mobilise quickly enough to clear fallen trees and snow.

The storm also damaged bird cages at the Attica Zoological Park, leading to the escape of two Eurasian eagle-owls and 30 Waldrapp Ibises, the park said.

Civil protection minister Christos Stylianidis, the former EU crisis management commissioner, on Saturday said Greece lacked "modern tools" to tackle climate challenges.

"We need modern radar and early warning systems," he told parliament.

"If we had them, and our meteorologists had them, we could have known the amount of snow (coming)," he said.

"The climate crisis found us all unprepared."

Mitsotakis has said Greece — habitually hit by earthquakes and summer wildfires — will invest 1.7 billion euros ($1.9 billion) in civil protection infrastructure.

In his response to his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic that has cost over 23,000 lives, the prime minister said 84 percent of Greeks over the age of 18 are now vaccinated.

One dead as storm batters Scandinavia
Stockholm (AFP) Jan 30, 2022 –

At least one person died, streets were flooded and thousands were left without electricity as Storm Malik moved over Scandinavia this weekend, authorities and utilities said.

In central Denmark, a 78-year-old woman died after opening a stable door from the inside which was then caught in the strong winds.

"The woman was dragged out by the wind… as a result, she fell and sustained injuries which led to her death," Danish police said in a statement.

Meteorological services in Sweden and Denmark warned about high water levels and flooding and reported hurricane force winds during the night.

The 7.8-kilometre (4.8-mile) Oresund Bridge connecting Denmark and Sweden had to be closed for traffic Saturday evening and stayed shut until Sunday morning.

Sweden's Transport Administration also advised against unnecessary travel during the weekend because of downed trees and objects blowing in the wind, and rescue services around Sweden and Denmark reported hundreds of emergency calls.

In Malmo in southern Sweden, rescue services warned people Sunday to stay clear of the city's recognisable skyscraper Turning Torso as pieces of the building had come loose due to the strong winds and risked falling to the ground.

Video from the scene also showed trees uprooted and a construction crane tipped over, destroying a small shack as the counterweight slammed through the road.

In southern and central Sweden, tens of thousands were left without electricity as the storm passed, according to utilities E.ON, Ellevio and Vattenfall.

Storm kills at least three in central Europe
Berlin (AFP) Jan 30, 2022 –

At least three people died and several were injured as violent winds uprooted trees and caused travel chaos in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic on Sunday.

A 58-year-old man was killed in the town of Beelitz near the German capital Berlin on Saturday evening when an election poster fell on him as he walked with his partner, local media reported citing the police.

In the neighbouring Czech Republic, a 70-year-old man was killed when the wind toppled the wall of a warehouse under construction in Velke Pritocno west of Prague, while another man was injured in the accident.

Poland's fire brigade reported one dead and five injured in the windstorm.

A falling tree injured a pedestrian in the northern German city of Bremen, while in the northeastern Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania region a motorcyclist was seriously injured after colliding with an uprooted tree.

Fallen branches and trees disrupted long-distance train services on Saturday evening and Sunday in northern and eastern Germany, particularly between Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg.

Transport in the neighbouring Czech Republic and Poland was affected too.

Seventy passengers were left stranded in a motionless train from Budapest to Prague in southeastern Czech Republic without power and heating for over four hours as the wind had damaged the overhead line.

Hundreds of thousands of households in the region were hit by power outages.

Berlin's firefighters requested residents to stay at home as strong winds lashed the city from Saturday evening.

The port city of Hamburg's famous fish market was flooded and debris damaged several road vehicles.