site.btaHeavy Snowfall Causes Chaos across Country, Smolyan Region Declares State of Emergency

Heavy Snowfall
Causes Chaos across Country,
Smolyan Region Declares State of Emergency


Sofia, March 7 (BTA) - A state of emergency has been declared in
Smolyan Region due to the heavy snowfall, fallen trees and
power supply cuts, Smolyan Deputy Regional Governor Zarko
Marinov told BTA on Saturday. The heavy snowfall for nearly 24
hours has deteriorated the situation in the entire country and
the Rhodope region in particular.

Power supply to dozens of settlements in the Smolyan Region has
been cut due to grid failures because of the heavy snow. Nearly
all municipalities in the regions are suffering power supply
disruptions. The largest amount of precipitation, at 92 l/sq m,
over the last 24 hours has been reported in Zlatograd. The
office of the Bulgarian Red Cross in Smolyan has been providing
food and hot beverages to volunteers who take part in road
clearing and rescue operations, said Smolyan Deputy Regional
Governor Adrian Petrov. Rescue teams are transporting patients
from the villages to the regional hospital for dyalisis
treatments.

A state of emergency has been declared in Ardino Municipality,
Kurdzhali Region due to the heavy winter conditions, the
regional crisis task force in Kurdzhali said. The town of Ardino
and nearby villages have no electricity. The snow cover in
places measures 0.8 m. A large number of municipal roads are
untraffickable.

Over 240 settlements in Kurdzhali Region have been left without
electricity.

Kurdzhali Regional Governor Iliyan Iliev has ordered the
regional disaster response plan to be put in place.

Iliev said that only national roads in the region are open to
traffic. The police in Kurdzhali said that 60 distress calls
have been placed in less than 24 hours, but there are no
stranded motorists.

Over the night the Tundzha River at Elhovo rose by over 10 cm,
reaching up to 350 cm in places, which is far below the critical
mark if 395 cm.

Settlements in the regions of Sliven, Haskovo, Plovdiv, Lovech,
Gabrovo, Veliko Turnovo, Turgovishte, Pernik and Montana have
suffered power outages.

In some stretches across the country train services have been
suspended. PK/PP





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