Additional storm alert issued to ships off Kamchatka`s coasts.

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, March 17 (Itar-Tass) - An additional storm
alert warning has been issued to ships on duty missions off the shores of
Kamchatka in the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean where seawaves 8 to 10
meters tall are expected overnight to March 18 (Kamchatka's current time
zone is GMT + 12 hours).
The Kamchatka branch of Russia's Ministry for Emergency Situations and
Civil Defense /EMERCOM/ said storm is expected along practically the
entire eastern coast of the peninsula from Cape Shipunsky to Cape Goven.
Captains of ships located in the area have been advised to take extra
measures for ensuring the safety of their crews.
A strong cyclone with heavy snowfall and blizzards has approached
Kamchatka.
Gale of up to 36 meters per second was registered Wednesday morning in
the southernmost areas of the peninsula and weather forecasters warned of
a possible deterioration of the situation in the regional capital
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky where classes have already been cancelled at
elementary schools, as well as in the Yelizovo and Ust-Bolsheretsk
districts.
EMERCOM has placed its forces in Kamchatka on alert for a possible
rapid dispatching to the sites of emergencies, should they occur.
Warnings have also been passed on to all the emergency services.
At the time of reporting, the spate of bad weather did not exert any
sizable impact on the operations of the territory's transport systems.
Kamchatka's main airport in Yelizovo was servicing all the flights as
scheduled. Still experts do not rule out that the weather may have an
unfavourable impact on flights betweent the peninsula and the continent.
-0-kle