Code orange has been declared for almost the entire territory of Bulgaria on Tuesday by the national weather service, due to especially cold weather.

All, but one, Bulgarian regions remain under code orange over extremely low temperatures, the National Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) announced Tuesday morning.

Code orange means intense weather situations with potential damage, injuries and casualties.

A more moderate code yellow has been declared only for the region of Blagoevgrad. Code yellow means potentially dangerous weather, where the forecast is not for unusual meteorological events, but requires people to exercise caution.

Bulgaria is to see another wave of heavy snowfalls in most parts of the country, as well as strong winds in the east during the next few days, weather forecasts have warned.

On Tuesday temperatures in most parts of the country will remain without significant change during the day, ranging between -8 ° and -3 °, in southeastern Bulgaria – between 0 °and -1 °.

The "fells like" temperatures however will be much lower because of the strong wind.

Rivers are expected to swell and reach critically high levels.

On Friday and Saturday the mercury will drop to about twenty degrees below the freezing point.

Nine people lost their lives in Southeastern Bulgaria in Monday's flooding caused by the breaking of local dams. There are demolished houses and people in distress.

The death toll continued to rise throughout Monday, with three casualties reported initially. The highest number of casualties was registered in the village of Biser, Haskovo District, where at least 200 houses have been flooded.

A total of five persons, of whom three are confirmed to be adult males, have perished in the village of Biser.

Four more died in the floods when their cars were swept away by high waters.