Severe snowstorms cause road closures, power cuts in Bulgaria
Heavy snowfalls accompanied by strong winds caused road closures in many parts of Bulgaria on January 6, ahead of a weekend on which severe low temperatures were expected.
The snowfalls caused road closures in the regions of Rousse, Shoumen, Silistra, Razgrad and Varna. A number of roads in the Dobrich area were closed.
A section of the Trakiya Motorway, between Karnobat and Bourgas, was closed on the morning of January 6, as was the Hemus Motorway between Shoumen and Varna.
Vehicles of more than 12 tons were banned from roads throughout Bulgaria.
Varna Airport was closed because of intense snowfalls and strong crosswinds. It was expected to remain closed until at least 5pm.
Bulgarian state railways BDZ warned of possible delays in cross-country train services.
In the Rousse region, 52 electricity transmission lines were turned off on the morning of January 6 because of strong winds.
The Danube Bridge border checkpoint at Rousse was opened, but heavy lorries were stopped at the Romanian side.
Energy distribution company EVN said that at 10am on January 6, the power supply situation in most areas that it served was normal. There was no serious emergency in the regions of Plovdiv, Pazardzhik, Smolyan, Kurdzhali, Haskovo, Yambol and Bourgas.
In the Stara Zagora region, 67 villages had complete or partial power cuts, while in the Sliven region, a total of 43 villages were affected. The power cuts were caused by torn wires or fallen electricity poles. Emergency teams were working in all affected areas.
Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry repeated its call to the public not to attempt to travel before January 8.
/Panorama
