site.btaUPDATED Bad Weather Wreaks Havoc Across Country, Two Die

Officers of the Chief Directorate for Fire Safety and Population Protection responded to over 350 calls for incidents, caused by the bad weather on Saturday, the Interior Ministry said. 

An orange code weather warning was in place for Saturday. 

Two men died after the strong storm in the region of Shumen. In the village of Razvigorovo a wall collapsed on a 51-year-old man. Another man, 67, from Veliki Preslav went to fetch his livestock from the outskirts of the town and is thought to have stepped on a broken power line.

The strong wind and heavy rainfall caused the heaviest damages in the regions of Smolyan, Targovishte, Razgrad, Silistra, and Shumen, according to information by the Interior Ministry as at 6.30 pm. Around 90 settlements in Northeastern Bulgaria suffered power outages.  

Some 280 firefighters with 97 units of equipment were clearing collapsed roofs, poles and trees. 

In Silistra Region a tornado passed through the villages of Dolets, Prohlada, Colobar and Sekulovo, damaging roofs and mowing down poles and trees.  

In Ragrad municipality there were 30 fallen trees. The strong wind began to subside by 3 pm.   

There were over 30 calls for incidents in Smolyan Region. There are settlements without power. The situation has begun to normalize.

A state of disaster has been declared in the village of Lavino, near Isperih, in the wake of gale-force winds and rain. 

Isperih Mayor Belgin Shukri told BTA that the storm came out shortly after noon and went on for five to six minutes. It blew off the rooftops of over 150 houses and mowed down poles and power lines. 

The Bulgarian Red Cross will send to Lavino on Sunday volunteers and psychologists who will help the people who were left without homes.
 
The town of Devnya declared a partial state of disaster after a heavy rainstorm mowed down trees and poles and cut power.  

In Sliven, the wind reached speed of 100 km/h. Staro Selo, Mladovo, Nikolaevo, Kermen, Vilna Zona-Sliven, Glushnik, Blatets were left without power. 

On Sunday it emerged that teams of the Sociali Assistance Agency are working on the field and visiting houses in the settlements that were affected by the severe weather on Saturday to provide assistance.  

The social workers are briefing people about the possibilities to receive social, financial, psychological and health assistance and are helping them apply for one-off aid which is up to BGN 1,512  to cover their urgent expenses for food, water, medicines and clothes. In addition they are also eligible for BGN 2,500 in assistance under the Social Protection Fund.