Bad Weather Claims Victims, Wreaks Havoc In Central, Eastern Europe

Blizzards and strong winds left villages and roads blocked in the Balkans, where an elderly Serbian man died in his snow-trapped car.

In southern Serbia, police said February 6 they found the man’s body while rescuing around 20 people, including five children, from their blocked cars on a road.

In the southern Serbian municipality of Crna Trava, an emergency was declared after the snow left around 800 people cut off.

Villages in eastern Bosnia were left without electricity while water supplies were cut in the town of Sokolac.

Strong winds on February 5 caused the death of a child who was hit by a falling traffic sign in Slovakia, while in the Czech Republic, a tree fell on a car, killing a man.

In Croatia, gusting winds overturned trucks on the roads, felled trees, and blocked sea traffic along the Adriatic Coast.

In Romania, strong winds and blizzards closed an eastbound highway on February 6, at least 30 trains were canceled, and many villages were left without electricity.

Many local and regional roads remain closed. Hundreds of trees fell along Romania’s busiest national highway that links the capital, Bucharest, and the central city of Brasov.

Heavy snow further hampered the morning traffic in Bucharest, one of Europe’s most congested cities.

A bus with 40 Romanian tourists was left stranded on a mountain road in central Bulgaria early on February 6. Bulgaria’s main mountain passes that connect the southern and northern parts of the country were closed to traffic because of snowdrifts.

Bulgaria’s Black Sea port of Varna was closed and the city airport had to cancel several flights.

Based on reporting by AP and digi24.ro