Temperatures in Europe Rise; Ice Damages Boats on Danube

By Jena Tesse Fox
       
More bad news from Europe's weather scene, even as temperatures are starting to rise: The Associated Press is reporting that chunks of melting ice moving on the Danube River have damaged hundreds of small boats and several restaurants on rafts.

The thick ice, which had closed hundreds of miles of Europe's busy waterway during the region's recent cold snap, started moving Sunday afternoon because of rising temperatures.

The 1,777-mile-long river flows through nine countries, and the ice partially blocked the waterway from Austria to the Black Sea.

As ice floes up to 1.6 feet thick began to break up in the Belgrade area, hundreds of parked boats crashed into each other and several barges were swept away, the story continues. One raft restaurant sank and several others were damaged as they broke away from the shore.