Harsh winter conditions cause traffic chaos, power cuts in hundreds of settlements in north-eastern Bulgaria

Transport chaos, blocked roads and delayed trains, hundreds of settlements without electricity and a Monday without school classes in the worst affected places. This is the result after the heavy snowfall over the weekend.

Nearly 800,000 households are still without electricity, the energy minister said

Red alert for dangerous weather was in force on November 26 in North-Eastern Bulgaria, which was most affected by the harsh winter weather. Unfortunately, it has also taken a toll. A homeless man died of frostbite in the town of Kazanlak.

More than 280 schools in 13 districts will not open tomorrow because of the complicated situation.

In places, the snowfall in northeastern Bulgaria reached 40 centimetres and caused real chaos. Firefighters from Razgrad rescued nine people, including five children. They were stranded in snow drifts in the morning, with three cars. They were sheltered in the fire station in Tsar Kaloyan.

State of emergency was declared in a number of settlements in the districts of Varna, Gabrovo, Dobrich, Razgrad and Shoumen.

60% of the customers in the region remained without electricity for hours. One hundred teams were working to repair the breakdowns. In the district of Rousse, the situation is now back to normal, but the damage is huge. Wet snow uprooted trees, knocked down power lines and snapped wires. There are dozens of reports of cars crushed by fallen trees. Throughout the day, heavy equipment was pulling out lorries from the snow near Volovo, and cancelled or delayed train services turned many people's journey into a real nightmare.

The wrath of winter fell on the residents of 40 settlements in the Rousse region. They have been without electricity for twenty-four hours.

"If the electricity supply is not restored tonight, I wouldn’t be surprised if the water stops too," Penko says.

A long line of lorries and cars led to traffic congestion on Rousse-Sofia road. Firefighters rescued a family with two children stranded without fuel in the area of the town of Byala.

"No internet, no nothing....300 kilometres from now on...we don't know what the road will be like. We have to hold the Road Infrastructure Agency responsible because they are not doing their job," Pavlin Vassilev is adamant.

"Those companies that are paid millions of money in advance, they should have sprayed with salt and this wouldn’t have happened," said Todor Nikolov.

The snow did not spare the railway transport. Bulgarians and Romanians were stuck on the international train to Sofia.

"We were told it would be on the move at some point, some day, but we don't know when," explained Martin Yanakiev.

"There were trees fallen on the rail road. It is being cleared right now. Two morning trains to Gorna Oryahovitsa were cancelled and one to Varna," explained Kostadinova, an official from the Bulgarian Railway company. BDZ.

Buses neither arrived nor departed from the central bus station. The trolley buses in Rousse will probably not run tomorrow because of a fault in the overhead line. There is also damage to dozens of cars because the snow storm knocked down trees on them.

"The damage is a broken windshield, side mirror. My husband moved the car for them to come and remove the tree. We have filed a report," said Petya Panteva.

130 settlements in Dobrich district had problems with power supply. 30 villages were without water. Farmers took out their equipment to clear the snow so they can work tomorrow.

"Transportation has been arranged for tomorrow for all the persons who are on haemodialys. Some have already been accommodated in the General Hospital on Saturday," said Sonia Georgieva, mayor of Dobrich municipality.

After ten hours of clearing and sanding, the Silistra-Rousse road was opened to traffic. Due to the severe winter weather, schools in Silistra will remain closed, but kindergartens and nurseries will work normally tomorrow.

In Bourgas district, three trains were blocked for hours because of fallen trees on the tracks. The Rishki mountain pass was closed for traffic, some of the roads in the area were closed as well. As a result of the strong winds, dozens of villages in Bourgas region were without electricity.

Hurricane winds late last night left 20 villages without electricity in the municipalities of Aytos, Karnobat, Ruen and Sungurlare.

The snow cover reached 40 cm in Sungurlare municipality, and the Rishki Pass remained closed to traffic.

"We have been here for 5 hours. Since 6:00 am. All the roads are blocked. We are just waiting until they open, until they clear them," Dimitar said.

Hurricane winds overnight knocked down trees that tore down the overhead power line in the area of the Zavet railway station near Sungurlare. Three trains on the Bourgas-Varna, Plovdiv-Varna and Sofia-Varna routes with 150 passengers remained blocked since early morning.

Passengers from all three trains waited for over 9 hours at the station in the village of Zavet to be transported by buses.

"We have been here since 6.00 am. I am shocked by the whole situation really. This is the first time I have had to travel by train in Bulgaria and it may be the last time," said Elitsa.

"The first train was delayed at 6:15 in the morning. We have provided food and water for the passengers. We have also provided three buses, which are going to take the passengers to Karnobat station," said Dimitar Gavazov, Mayor of Sungurlare Municipality.

Around 17:00 all passengers were taken to the station in Karnobat, where they continued their journey by train to Sofia.

Sofia, images by BTA

Rousse