Landslide

A landslide swept away a section of the Smolyan-Pamporovo road on Friday, the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works said. Smolyan Mayor Nikolay Melemov declared a state of emergency and ordered all companies with suitable equipment to stand by and assist as needed, while mayors and deputy mayors in the affected areas are to monitor road conditions within their jurisdictions.Gas and electricity supplies in the area have been cut off for safety reasons. Traffic for all motor vehicles on Road III-8641 Pamporovo-Smolyan has been suspended in the area of the Raykovski Livadi locality at the 4 km mark. Traffic in the direction of Pamporovo-Smolyan is being rerouted via the following detour: Road III-864 Pamporovo-Stoykite-Road III-866 Stoykite-Smolyan and back, and through the Rozhen Pass. Experts will now determine whether measures can be taken to temporarily reinforce the road and construct a temporary route to restore traffic until a project for the permanent restoration of the section is developed. On Friday morning, the section of the third-class road was restricted due to subsidence of the roadway. The compromised section was approximately 10 metres long. Shortly thereafter, a massive crack completely blocked passage across the road. The section was secured and marked with warning signs, and teams were dispatched to the site to assess the situation and take immediate action. The affected section had already grown to about 70 metres in length, with cracks in the asphalt pavement along its entire length. It was evident that the earth was shifting, and the cracks were widening. In the afternoon, the landslide began and swept away dozens of metres of the roadway. The slide also dragged down the slope dozens of coniferous trees.