Bulgaria issues Code Red extremely dangerous weather warning for five districts
Bulgarian authorities have issued the Code Red warning of extremely dangerous weather for five districts on January 19 because of forecast strong winds.
The districts subject to the Code Red weather warning for Thursday are Montana, Vratsa, Lovech, Gabrovo and Veliko Turnovo.
Bulgaria’s national meteorology institute also issued Code Red warnings because of forecast strong winds in the districts of Montana and Vratsa for January 18.
Wind speed in the districts subject to the Code Red warning is expected to reach up to 30-35m/s.
Vratsa municipality declared a local state of emergency in parts of the town on January 18, with media reports saying that the strong winds caused some property damage and interrupted electricity supply because of downed power lines.
Seven districts were issued the Code Orange warning of hazardous weather for January 19. Those districts were Vidin, the city and district of Sofia, Turgovishte, Razgrad, Kurdjali and Haskovo.
The warning is for strong winds of up to 29m/s (25m/s in the capital city of Sofia), as well as heavy rain in the district of Vidin, forecast for the evening of January 19.
Seven districts – the city and district of Sofia, Lovech, Gabrovo, Veliko Turnovo, Kurdjali and Haskovo – were also issued the Code Orange warning for January 18.
In Sofia, the strong winds affected the work of Sofia Airport, with some planes opting to land in Plovdiv, which resulted in the cancellation of several flights, Bulgarian National Radio reported.
The rest of the country was under the lesser Code Yellow warning of potentially hazardous weather both on January 18 and 19, with wind speeds in those areas expected to reach up to 19-24m/s.
(Image: Weather alerts for January 19 by National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology)
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