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Shelves left empty after ‘Beast from East’

Environment

Shelves left empty after ‘Beast from East’

Temperatures are starting to increase again in the UK, after the country was hit by the “Beast from the East”, the Siberian winter storm that brought snow and freezing temperatures across Europe throughout the week, with the highest  peek being on Wednesday, Delina Petiros reports

(Pic: The snow storm caused many problems traveling across the UK. Credit: Pexels)

Temperatures are starting to increase again in the UK, after the country was hit by the ‘Beast from the East’, the Siberian winter storm that brought snow and freezing temperatures across Europe throughout the week, with the highest  peek being on Wednesday, Delina Petiros reports

On Wednesday indeed, the U.K. Met Office issued its highest “red risk to life” alert as up to 50 cm of snow was falling on the streets, forcing thousands of schools to close, flights being cancelled and operations in hospitals cancelled too. But one of the most affected “sectors” were grocery retail structures.

Shoppers took it to social media to report empty supermarket shelves with various photos being posted on Twitter proving a massive shortage of products along the country. The main goods which were missing was bread, milk and eggs besides fruit and vegetables. The bad weather conditions made it very difficult for suppliers to deliver stock, that is why retailers say they are still experiencing localised disruptions. The scrambling for basics came after customers started to shop in fear that the storm would have been longer and would have made it impossible to drive around. Milk and bread only last for about a week, however they seem to be the privileged goods people decided to stock on during any catastrophic event, ever since World War II.  Shelves were left bare at Aldi, Tesco, Asda, Waitrose, Co-op and various local shops, and queues were over an hour. The fear, created chaos in stores, with customers pushing each other out of the way to grab the last of the product. However, we can assume that retailers won’t have to see these scenes for a while now as the poor conditions have come to an end, with deliveries finally going back to normal.

The red alert has finally passed now, however yellow warnings for snow and ice remain in place for most of Scotland until tonight. Temperatures have improved since the biting cold earlier in the week – London is forecasted to be 10C , but, there still will be a risk of ice during clearer spells, particularly further north.

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