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Cyclone interrupts Kamchatka-mainland air flights

The main air harbour of Kamchatka is open and ready to receive airliners

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, February 4 (Itar-Tass) - A cyclone with snow blizzards and squally wind that hit the Kamchatka Peninsula's south has interrupted air flights between the Peninsula and the mainland. Flights have been also discontinued on Kamchatka's inland air routes, a source at the air traffic control room of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky airport in the city of Yelizovo has told Itar-Tass.

A Kamchatka-bound Aeroflot airliner from Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on Monday has been diverted to a reserve airfield in Khabarovsk due to adverse weather. Departure of two airliners with passengers from Khabarovsk to the Peninsula is being delayed. Yet anotherairliner is stranded in Vladivostok. It is not yet clear whether an air flight from Novosibirsk to Kamchatka will be made.

The main air harbour of Kamchatka is open and ready to receive airliners. However, because of bad weather, the crews of airliners decide on their own about departure for the Peninsula, the source said.

A heavy snow blizzard is sweeping Kamchatka's south. Snowdrifts and limited visibility hamper motor vehicle traffic on the roads.

The blizzard is being accompanied with a squally wind. Its gusts of up ot 26 m/sec have been recorded in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Classes in schools have been cancelled. Wind velocity is 29-30 m/sec in some places on the eastern coast. There is an avalance alert in the moutainous areas of Kamchatka Territory. The likelihood of avalances will keep on until Feb 6 in Yelizovo, Ust-Bolsheretsk, Milkovo, and Ust-Kamchatsk Districts of the Territory and within the city boundaries of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. According to meteorological data, animprovement of weather in the Peninsula's south isexpected towards Monday evening.

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