Landslide said to be largest in Bulgaria in decades could leave Pamporovo – Smolyan road closed for years
A landslide, said to have been the largest in Bulgaria in decades, could leave the road connecting the Rhodope mountain towns of Pamporovo and Smolyan closed for – at best – two years, caretaker Regional Development Minister Nikolai Naidenov told Nova Televizia on May 2.
About half a hectare collapsed as a result of the May 1 landslide, along with 100-year-old trees, while electricity and gas supplies were cut off. There were no reports of injuries.
The affected road section is nearly 70 metres long. It is impossible to pass, and detours are being used.
Asked how long it would take to repair the road, Naidenov said: “I’m no big optimist, it’s hard to predict before studies are conducted, but at least one year, maybe two years in the best case”.
Naidenov said that it was unlikely that the disaster could have been prevented, simply because that whole area of the Rhodope mountain region is like this.
He said that the bypass routes, through Stoykite and Rozhen, have the capacity to handle the traffic.
“But the unpleasant thing is that the route is being extended by, roughly speaking, 30 km, and it is used daily by people who work in Pamporovo and Smolyan.”
District governor Zarko Marinov said that a regional crisis headquarters met on the morning of May 2 at the Smolyan district administration in connection with the landslide near Pamporovo.
The landslide most likely remains active, Marinov said, saying that a water and sewerage team had conducted an inspection in the Raykovski Livadi area and had heard cracking and other noises, an indication of ongoing processes on the ground.
In spite of the the scale of the disaster, there is currently no danger to the population or the tourist infrastructure in Pamporovo, which is best known as one of Bulgaria’s three major ski resorts.
“There are no people in distress, no hotels in danger. The only problem is the interrupted road connection, which has completely collapsed,” Marinov said.
Marinov said that the landslide is extremely large and will have a serious impact on the region, especially given the upcoming summer tourist season.
There is additional concern because of new cracks in the asphalt, which appeared 200-300 metres from the main landslide. Marinov said that this was not a new process, but an expansion of the already activated landslide.
Smolyan mayor Nikolai Melemov told Bulgarian National Television on May 2: “The first action was yesterday evening at 8pm, when we gathered the crisis headquarters and declared a state of emergency so that all institutions could react quickly, to facilitate decision-making and what to do, to inform the public about how things are going, because Smolyan district is the only one in Bulgaria that has only road transport”.
“We have alternative routes, but they are longer, especially since there are problems there, so we need to focus our efforts on this. This is a state road, we at the municipality cannot participate with equipment, money, just with logistics and support,” Melemov said.
The manager of Irrigation Systems, Kostadin Cholakov, conducted an inspection and found that there is no danger to the Pamporovo Dam.
The Pamporovo dam is managed by Pamporovo AD. According to the company’s executive director Stefan Prisadov, there is no danger to people and there is no connection between the dam and the landslide. The water facility is in good condition, but the area is known for its active landslide zone.
On May 1, the Road Infrastructure Agency said that a team of geologists and designers will inspect the affected route.
After that, there will be an assessment whether measures can be taken for temporary strengthening and construction of a road to restore traffic until a project for the permanent restoration of the section is prepared.
(Screenshot via BNT)
