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LONDON (AFP)

Fresh heavy snowfalls brought new winter woe to parts of Europe on Wednesday, disrupting transport links and delaying a humanitarian flight to earthquake-stricken Haiti.

Airports closed across Britain, hundreds of flights were cancelled in France and Germans shivered as temperatures dropped to well below freezing and snow piled up.

As new snowfalls battered Britain, business leaders said the worst winter in three decades was costing the country hundreds of millions of pounds (euros, dollars) a day.

Snow at London’s Gatwick airport held up a flight carrying 70 rescue specialists bound for Haiti with 10 tonnes of equipment.

The plane eventually departed at around 6:40 pm (1840 GMT) and was among the first to take off after the runway was cleared, a spokesman said.

“Today’s snow once again meant our teams had to overcome challenging conditions to ensure our runway was safe for aircraft and passengers, including the important mission to Haiti,” said Gatwick chief executive Stewart Wingate.

London City, Birmingham, Cardiff and Southampton airports were also shut by the snow but reopened later in the day.

London Heathrow airport reported the cancellation of nearly 300 flights.

There was disruption for air travellers in France.

In Paris, the main Charles de Gaulle airport cancelled 15 percent of its afternoon flights, having scrapped 40 percent in the morning, while at Orly airport, traffic was reduced by 50 percent due to snow and sleet.

French aviation authorities said the disruption was compounded by an air traffic controllers’ strike which is due to continue on Thursday.

Around half of flights into and out of Orly are expected to be cancelled because of the industrial action on Thursday, and around 15 percent at Charles de Gaulle, according to an airport source.

The French national weather service said icy conditions had gradually improved in the north of the country, while traffic was back to normal by noon in most areas, according to the National Road Information Centre.

The French Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire said the government would help farmers, including milk and fruit and vegetable producers, affected by the bad weather.

French dairy farmers whose milk has not been collected during the freeze called for compensation.

In Germany, one of the countries worst hit by the big freeze, temperatures fell to minus 17 degrees Celsius, with fresh snow in the south, while some secondary roads in the north were still blocked.

Eurostar rail services between Britain and continental Europe were “running a near-normal service”, though six trains were cancelled.

In Britain, the Federation of Small Businesses estimated that the bad weather was costing the economy at least 600 million pounds (975 million dollars, 670 million euros) a day.

A woman died after falling into a lake as she tried to rescue her dog in southeast England, police said.

The Met Office national weather service said that a mixture of rain, sleet and snow across England and Wales was causing very icy conditions.

Officers in the Netherlands found the body of a 48-year-old woman on a park bench in a town north of Amsterdam who had died of exposure in the cold snap.

Switzerland’s main publicly-owned salt works said it had turned down new orders from the Netherlands and Germany in order to supply booming domestic needs.

Heavy snow on the runway forced Geneva airport to open several hours late on Wednesday morning, delaying around 30 flights.

Temperatures rose in Spain, but nearly all of Portugal was put on orange alert for high winds and heavy rain expected Wednesday.