Power Outages and Snow Challenges Hit Smolyan and Sofia
Twelve villages in the Smolyan region remain without electricity due to heavy snowfall
Power supply to more than 800 locations in southern Bulgaria has been disrupted as of Sunday evening due to heavy snowfall now in its third day.
Some villages and towns in the regions of Smolyan and Kardzhali as well as the southernmost areas of Pazardzhik region have remained without water supply, too, as water pumps were idled by the lack of electricity.
Worst affected were the municipalities of Madan, Zlatograd, Nedelino and Rudozem. Households there remained without electricity for a second day in row.
Mobile telecommunications in those regions also were disrupted. Mobile operators have promised to provide emergency power feed to their cells to restore the operation of their phone network in the affected regions.
With power lines damaged in many areas of Bulgaria’s southern Rhodope Mountains, to which access is either very difficult or impossible at the moment it will take days before electricity supply is restored, outgoing Interior Minister Veselin Vuchkov said.
Army units have been sent to carry food and medicines to villages in Smolyan and Kardzhali regions blocked by snowdrifts as high as two meters.
A state of emergency was declared in the town of Velingrad where fresh snow cover is in excess of one metre. The towns of Batak and Peshtera in Pazardzhik region also were struggling without electricity.
Snowfall is expected to continue in Bulgaria’s southern mountains on Monday, albeit at a lower intensity.
Troyanovo 1, one of the open pits at Maritsa Iztok coal mines, suspended operations on Sunday due to heavy rains that had flooded the pit and disrupted traffic along the railway connecting the mine with the nearby power plant Maritsa East 2.
Overflowing rivers in Haskovo region halted traffic on the roads linking the town of Simeonovgrad with the towns of Dimitrovgrad and Galabovo.
On February 10, Bulgaria is expected to experience mostly sunny weather with scattered clouds, particularly in Western Bulgaria
In the coming days, the weather in Bulgaria will be dominated by varying wind conditions
The weather in Bulgaria on February 6 will be mostly cloudy, with light snowfall expected in Eastern Bulgaria and mountain regions
On February 5, light snow is expected in parts of Eastern Bulgaria and in mountainous areas
Seismic activity on the Greek island of Santorini has continued for a fourth consecutive day
The weather across Bulgaria on February 4 is expected to be mostly cloudy, with the southern half of the country seeing more significant cloud coverage.
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