Downpours Claim Woman's Life in Bulgaria's East

A woman was found dead after going missing on Saturday as torrential rains flooded the Primorsko Municipality near the Bulgarian Black Sea city of Burgas.

Valentina Stoycheva, 38, and her husband were driving their car home on Saturday afternoon near the village of Rosen where they lived.

Flooded roads forced them to leave the vehicle and continue on foot as they could not make it in their car.

A tidal wave however made the couple slip and fall and separate, and rescuers found the woman drowned on Sunday, the head of Burgas' fire safety department Vasil Vasilev told private national channel Nova TV.

On September 6 heavy showers took two more lives in the same municipality.

The situation is gradually getting back to normal across the region, with rains decreasing and authorities pumping out water where where drainage has been hindered.

Other areas in Bulgaria, like the north-central town of Gabrovo, are still affected by rains, but also by the first snow this year which fell on Saturday catching municipal authorities by surprise.

Heavy snowfall surprised Gabrovo forcing authorities to close a number of key roads. Tens of villages in the region have been left without electricity for the past 24 hours, and schools will not open on Monday in Gabrovo and Sevlievo municipalities.

A state of emergency was declared in Gabrovo on Saturday and also and in the village Banite in the Smolyan municipality, where a number of landslides were triggered by snow and rain.

Power cuts have also affected villages and towns in the nearby municipality of Lovech.

In the Karandila area near Sliven, fifteen people with a camper and a caravan have been left stranded as the snow has hindered their access to the town.

Haskovo, a town in Bulgaria's south, is also returning to normal after a river swollen by the rains inundated the adjacent neighborhood and the vegetable market.

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