HARD WINTER CONDITIONS CAUSE POWERCUTS, TRAFFIC DISRUPTIONS ACROSS BULGARIA

After 24 hours of non-stop snowing the situation in the country on 17th of January remains compex. The heavy snow has caused transport disruptions, closed roads and power outages in some places in Bulgaria. At places the rain turned into snow and caused flooding and landslides.

Code red weather warning was issued for the regions of Haskovo, Smolyan and Kardzhali in the South of Bulgaria.

Over half a million of households in the West of Bulgaria remained without electricity caused by heavy icing of power lines. The electricity company sent emergency teams who worked all day to restore the power supply. The situation was additionally complicated by large piles of snow and snowdrifts in the fields where there are no roads and the terrain is difficult to pass even for highly specialised equipment.

Schools in several municipalities have cancelled classes for the first days of the next over the bad whether.

An avalanche blocked the mountain pass “Petrohan” in the region of Monata, Northwest Bulgaria, in the morning on 17th of January. It took almost 5 hours to clear the snow from roads and early in the afternoon the route between Monata and the capital Sofia was already passable, but the ban on the movement of heavy-freight vehicles over 12 tonnes remained in place. The heavy snow caused many power failures in the region and 17,000 people remained without electricity.

The snow cover in the North Bulgarian district of Veliko Turnovo has reached over 40 cm. There are power outages in about 100 villages in the area. Most complicated was the situation in Elena municipality.

All main roads and the mountain pass of the Republic are banned for movement of lorries over 10 tonnes. The pass Tvarditsa – Elena was entirely closed for traffic.

State of emergency was declared in Svishtov. Electricity and water supply was cut in almost all villages in the municipality, the roads are not passable. Snow-removal machines, including military equipment, were used to clear the snow.

15 electricity poles were knocked down in the North Bulgarian city of Shumen and many power lines are hanging low with the heavy snow. Many schools in the area called off classes.

Almost half a meter of snow cover in the North Bulgarian city of Targovishte has left 70 villages in the area without power supply. As temperatures drop, the wires get covered in ice which makes the repair works more difficult.

The road conditions during the day remained complicated. 2,000 snow ploughing machines were working to clear the roads. The roads in West Bulgaria are ploughed and passable, only the section of Hemus motorway between Shumen and Varna is in a worse condition as the strong wind formed snowdrifts which made snow removal more difficult.

Bulgarian state railways BDZ said that the movement of trains had been suspended on eight sections in the country because of fallen branched and rocks on the railway lines.

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