Story highlights
• Falling ice forces closure of major roadways
• Car windshields smashed
• Repeated freezes and thaws left ice on structures

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_{Trevor Malanda snapped this image Monday of an empty Gardiner Expressway (bottom left) in downtown Toronto.}

TORONTO, Ontario (Reuters) -- Police closed several major Toronto streets Monday after huge slabs of ice started skidding off skyscrapers in the city's downtown core.

Roads closed to traffic included parts of the Gardiner Expressway, an elevated freeway that leads to downtown Toronto, causing major traffic snarls during the morning rush hour.

CP-24 television showed pictures of cars with smashed windscreens and said witnesses reported seeing ice slabs "the size of a kitchen table" skidding off buildings like the CN Tower, dubbed the world's tallest free-standing structure.

One police officer said a slab "four feet by four feet and several inches thick" fell from the CN Tower, according to a report from The Globe and Mail Web site.

"Current weather conditions are presenting safety concerns," a police statement said. "The closures will remain in effect as long as there is a danger to public safety."

Toronto, Canada's largest city, has faced a combination of snow and thaw during the past few days. A winter storm last Thursday dumped several centimeters of snow on the city, and then a night of rain turned that snow into icy porridge.

Then the weather turned cold again, and the porridge turned back to ice, which started melting in Monday's morning sun.

Copyright 2007 Reuters.