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Severe winter conditions. Heavy snowfall and strong winds froze half of Bulgaria. An orange code for hazardous weather conditions was announced in 9 districts. Several roads are blocked. Part of the Trakia to Bourgas motorway is closed. The road situation in the Stara Planina passes is also complicated.
Thousands of road services machines are dedicated to clearing problem areas.
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Burgas region
The Trakia motorway is closed between the Zimnitsa and Bourgas road junctions due to snow storms, strong winds and ice sheet, which form so-called “funnels”. There are checkpoints at all road entrances and exits. The ring road passes through Karnobat – Petolachkata – Aytos – Bourgas. Traffic on the road will be released when the snowfall stops and the wind weakens.
The situation is worse in the municipalities of Karnobat and Ruen. In Burgas district several places are without power due to broken power lines, the damage is being repaired. There are no peoples in distress.
Northeast Bulgaria
The road situation in northeast Bulgaria is also complicated. There are conditions for snowstorms due to the strong wind, explained RIA chief Georgi Terziiski.
Early this morning, a bus took the Ruse – Byala road. The driver lost control of the vehicle and the car fell into the ditch. According to NOVA, no passengers were injured. The cause of the accident, according to the driver, was ice on the road.
A bus took an icy section of the Ruse-Byala highway.
Traffic on the stretch from km 32 to km 110 of the Silistra – Dobrich highway is temporarily limited to vehicles over 12 tons due to snow removal.
The movement of vehicles over 12 tons on the Varna-Dobrich highway is also limited. The municipal road from the village of Vaglen to the village of Kamenar is closed to traffic. There are cars stuck in the snow, which are currently being helped. There are no people in danger, RIA reports.
The passage of the Republic
All restrictions on the movement of cars in the Veliko Tarnovo region and in the Republic Pass have been lifted. Heavy goods are also moved.
The restriction on trucks moving, but only with chains, was introduced last night. The parking lots around Veliko Tarnovo were packed with trucks. Cleaning services are available 24 hours a day. Despite several days’ warnings of heavy snow, there was no shortage of unsuspecting drivers.
“90 machines are working in the field. We had many situations with damaged cleaning equipment, but I think we managed,” explained the director of the OPU – Veliko Tarnovo, Eng. Ventsislav Angelov.
Due to heavy snowfall before noon, restrictions on the movement of heavy vehicles were imposed on most first-class roads in the Veliko Tarnovo region.
Shipka Pass
There is strong wind and gusts in the Shipka area. The roads and accesses to the passage are closed. Several cars also collided. At 12 o’clock, the Shipka Pass is open to traffic. Before noon, for about an hour, traffic in both directions was stopped for cleaning.
The main problem arose between the towns of Kran and Shipka, where traffic was stopped this morning due to hurricane force winds and drowsiness. Four cars also collided. The road remains closed to traffic.
Four machines process the south side of the Shipka Pass. The movement is done in strong winds.
Rozhen and Prevala Steps
Snow also stopped trucks in the Rhodopes. The Rozhen and Prevala passes proved to be a critical point for travelers. In order not to form a column of stuck trucks, the police stopped their movement. Thus, it is limited to the passage of trucks of more than 12 tons through the two passages, as well as by the III-866 Devin-Mihalkovo road.
Snow and wind warning codes in the middle of Bulgaria
Troyansky Pass
Due to heavy snowfall, stormy wind and poor visibility, the highest pass in Stara Planina, “Troyanski”, is closed to all cars.
Smolyan region
The road situation throughout the Smolyan region remains difficult. The snow cover in the high places reached about half a meter. The snowfall put drivers and snow removal companies to the test again. From the crossroads from the village of Zabardo to Pamporovo, the main road to Smolyan was covered in snow. Shortly before 9 a.m., three snowplows in a row were dispatched to the problem area and cleanup began.
Four settlements in the Banite Township area are in the dark and cold due to power lines broken by wet snow. Teams from the energy company are already working to eliminate the accident.
Video: “My news”
Hemus Highway
The restriction on the movement of cars over 12 tons in the Sofia region on the Hemus highway has been lifted. The same ban is lifted in the Sofia-Ruse and Sofia-Varna directions in the Lovech and Veliko Tarnovo districts.
1,320 machines worked on Republican highways at night.
For snow removal, the movement of vehicles over 12 tons has been temporarily suspended on the Botevgrad – Mezdra highway, as well as from the Byala crossing to the “Koritna” highway crossing. For cleaning, the passage of all cars on the Aksakovska Panorama – Kichevo highway, on the territory of the Varna district, as well as on the Balchik – Albena and Aksakovska Panorama – Kichevo highway is restricted. Due to snowfall and gusts, all vehicles were stopped on the Shumen – Kaolinovo road on the stretch between the villages of Zlatna Niva and Voyvoda. Traffic is redirected by a ring road: in the direction of Shumen, on the III-701 road, and in the opposite direction on the Shumen road, Zlatna Niva village and the III-2007 road to Kaolinovo, reports RIA.
Today, a code orange for potentially dangerous weather conditions, snowfall and wind has been announced in 9 districts: Silistra, Dobrich, Razgrad, Targovishte, Varna, Shumen, Sliven, Burgas and Yambol. In the districts of Ruse, Veliko Tarnovo, Gabrovo, Lovech, Stara Zagora, Haskovo and Kardzhali a yellow code has been established for snowfall and stormy winds.
“We expect snow storms in the districts: Shumen, Burgas and Dobrich. Currently, part of the Kavarna-Shabla highway is closed. There is a restriction for the movement of vehicles over 12 tons on the Shumen – Kaolinovo highway,” said the Director of the Directorate of “Maintenance of road infrastructure”, Ing. Daniel Ivanichkov.
The Road Infrastructure Agency urges drivers to circulate on the road with vehicles prepared for winter conditions, to drive at a speed consistent with road conditions, not to carry out risky maneuvers and to overtake the snow removal team. Blocking the traffic of vehicles that are not prepared for winter conditions makes it difficult for other drivers to circulate and for the snowplows.
All citizens and transport companies can obtain information on the current state of roads and winter maintenance of the national network from the RIA website – www.api.bg, as well as at any time of the day at tel. 0700 130 20 in RIA. The Situation Center operates in the agency throughout the year on a 24-hour basis, which collects and summarizes data on the state of national highways.
Reporters: Georgi Manev, Martin Georgiev, Blagoy Bekriev
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