Severe weather

Strong winds hit Bulgaria on Thursday with the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology issuing red code warning for Vratsa and Mezdra Regions, orange warning for nine other and a yellow warning for 17 regions.A state of emergency has been declared in the city of Vratsa due to wind gusts exceeding 110 km/h, the City Hall said on Facebook.The suburban passenger train on the Mezdra-Vratsa route (departing Mezdra at 10:15 a.m. and scheduled to arrive in Vratsa at 10:34 a.m.) was cancelled due to overhanging and fallen branches on the railway track. “Our teams are on site clearing fallen branches from the railway network,” Petar Velkov, Director of the Vratsa Railway Section at the National Railway Infrastructure Company, told BTA.Villages without electricity, fallen trees and torn-off insulation are among the consequences of the hurricane-force winds in Vratsa and Mezdra. In Vratsa Municipality, reports so far concern broken branches and several fallen trees, overturned waste containers and insulation torn off a residential block in the Dabnika borough. The villages of Chelopek and Beli Izvor are without electricity. In Mezdra Municipality, power outages have affected Zverino, Ochindol, Tipchenitsa, Krapets and Varbeshnitsa. The cause was a fallen tree, which has since been cut up and removed. Repair work is under way on all reported incidents. There have been no reports of injuries.
A total of 120 reports of fallen trees, 15 of fallen fence panels and three of damaged traffic lights were received in Sofia by 09 a.m. due to strong winds, according to the Sofia Municipality. More than 300 reports related to the strong winds have been received through the 112 emergency system, the Sofia Municipality’s Emergency Assistance and Prevention Directorate and the Sofia Fire Safety and Civil Protection Directorate's operations centre. Response teams began working last night and have remained on duty since then, Maria Teneva, head of the Sofia Municipality’s Emergency Assistance and Prevention Directorate, told a media briefing on the reports of strong winds. No one has been injured, Teneva said. There were 10 reports of cars hit by falling trees, all of which have now been dealt with.More than 10 reports of fallen trees, branches and an electricity pole due to the strong winds have been received in Yambol Region. Fire service teams responded to three reports of fallen trees caused by the strong winds in Pernik overnight. According to preliminary information, vehicles have been damaged, while the extent of the material damage is still being assessed, the Regional Directorate of the Interior Ministry said.Strong winds brought down a tree on the Kubrat-Belovets road and partially tore off a roof in Isperih, Nikolay Atanasov, an expert at the Razgrad Regional Administration, told BTA.