site.btaTorrential Rains Claim One Life in Bourgas, Snowfall Disrupts Road Traffic

105 ENVIRONMENT - SEVERE WEATHER

Torrential Rains Claim One Life in Bourgas, Snowfall Disrupts
Road Traffic

Sofia, October 26 (BTA) - Alerts about very dangerous rain and
snowfall levels have been issued for five administrative regions
in Southeastern Bulgaria: Smolyan, Kurdjali, Haskovo, Bourgas
and Yambol, the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology
with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences reported on Saturday.

A state of disaster was declared in Bourgas (on the Black
Sea), owing to torrential rains, and in Gabrovo (Central
Bulgaria), because of the severe winter conditions during the
weekend.

The torrential rains in the region of Bourgas claimed the life
of a 39-year-old woman. She was found drowned on Sunday morning
after a rescue operation near the village of Rosen.

Due to the heavy rainfall, rivers overflew in Haskovo Region and
the dams were in a critical condition on Saturday.

The first snowfall brought down a number of trees onto
electricity transmission network facilities and caused outages.

Train services in some parts of the country has been upset by
the heavy rainfall.

By order of Interior Minister Yordan Bakalov and Interior
Ministry Chief Secretary Svetlozar Lazarov, a situation centre
has been set up at the Chief Directorate of Fire Safety and
Civil Protection to respond to the extreme weather.

Trucks and cars were congesting the Trakia Motorway in a
kilometres-long line in the direction from Sofia to Plovdiv.
Traffic on the Hemus Motorway from Sofia to Botevgrad has been
suspended due to snow drifts, the Road Infrastructure Agency
said.

Snow chains were mandatory for all motor vehicles driving
through the mountain passes of Petrohan, Prevala, Rozhen and
Pamporovo,
and trucks with trailers and semi-trailers are not allowed.
Heavy snow and high wind reduced visibility in the Shipka Pass.