site.btaSevere Storm in Bucharest Floods Streets, Downs Trees, Diverts Flights to Bulgaria

A water apocalypse - that's how the Romanian media summed up Thursday night's events in Bucharest. A strong storm broke out on Thursday evening and caused chaos in the Romanian capital.

Around 11 p.m., Bucharest residents received a warning message that the weather was suddenly deteriorating and it was better to stay safely indoors. Meteorologists issued a red code for dangerous weather.

The hailstorm and heavy rainfall overwhelmed the sewers and the streets flooded. Water reached underground car parks, apartment blocks and even people's homes. Some residents say the natural disaster hit with hurricane-like force.

107 streets, 208 houses, households and basements, 71 cars were flooded. Sixty trees and seven poles were uprooted or knocked down. Three roofs were blown off. Firefighters from the country's General Inspectorate for Emergencies have intervened in over 400 situations.

The torrential rain also caused chaos around the country's biggest stadium - National Arena in Bucharest, where the British music band Coldplay played for the second night in a row on Thursday. Tens of thousands of spectators went through a real adventure trying to get home after the show. Thirty minutes after the concert ended, many of them returned to the stadium and hid under the canopies of the sports facility.

There were also problems in the air. Three flight attendants were injured due to turbulence during a low-cost flight from Bucharest to Hamburg. The incident occurred over Craiova and the plane returned to Bucharest where the flight attendants were admitted to hospital. They suffered minor injuries to the head and legs.

At the same time, several flights bound for Bucharest were waiting in the air for the weather to improve to land at Bucharest's Henri Coandă International Airport were diverted to other airports.

The HiSky flight between Timisoara and Bucharest landed at Sofia Airport, while the one operated by SkyUp for (Israeli airline) Arkia on the Tel Aviv-Bucharest route landed in the Bulgarian coastal city of Burgas, Romanian airport authorities said.