Romania in the grip of bad weather

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Daniela Budu, 18.01.2018, 13:30

Traffic and electricity have been disrupted, schools,
kindergartens and ports have been closed down because of heavy snowfalls and
gale-force winds in more than half of Romania’s territory, which is under code
orange alert. The most affected counties are those in the centre, northeast, east
and some in the southeast of the country. The Romanian Interior Minister Carmen
Dan has announced that hundreds of localities have been left without
electricity because of blizzard, tens of thousands of consumers being affected by a power outage. Trees have fallen
down, damaging power lines and reparation works are rendered difficult by the
thick snow layer.

Road traffic is disrupted on several county and national
roads, with hundreds of cars waiting in line. The police has imposed traffic
bans on some road segments, for vehicles with a total weight of over 7.5 tons,
irrespective of their winter gear. The line authorities say specific actions
are taken in the affected areas, mainly on the segments of road built on steep
terrain, to avoid traffic jams. Traffic is also difficult because of snow and
low visibility on the A2 highway, linking Bucharest to Constanta, in the
south-east. Hundreds of snow clearing vehicles are also running along the most
affected roads, to remove snow and spread ice-melting chemicals or salt.

The
seaports of Constanta North, Constanta South and Mangalia, in south-eastern
Romania, have been closed because of gusty wind and low visibility whereas
loading and unloading activities have been brought to a halt. The Constanta
South-Agigea River Port has been closed and traffic on the Danube-Black Sea
Canal has been restricted. The Port Control officers have sent weather
notifications, high- seas- forecast and storm warnings and called on ship
captains in the area to take supplementary safety measures on board, to avoid
accidents. The Education Minister Liviu Pop has announced that classes have
been suspended in several schools and kindergartens in the counties affected by
strong blizzard.

However, meteorologists say the weather will improve in the
following days, with precipitations falling mainly in the east of the country.
Although it will be warmer than usual for this time of the year, the real feel
temperatures will be lower than normal because of wind, which might exceed 100
km/h at high altitudes, especially on mountain ridges. On Friday, temperatures
will increase in southern and southeastern Romania, up to 9 – 10 degrees
Celsius, meteorologists also say. (Translated by Diana Vijeu)