Tough Road Conditions, Power Outages in NE Bulgaria

Snowfall and snowdrifts on the roads, low temperatures and disruption in electricity supply in several northeastern Bulgarian regions are still being addressed, outgoing Regional Development Minister Lilyana Pavlova has said.

"The teams will put forth their effort into opening roads to the maximum," Pavlova has added in this week's first morning briefing of the crisis team that deals with the aftermath of heavy snowfall and a cold snap throughout the country.

In Shumen, however, their activity is hindered by strong winds.

Snowdrifts are a trouble in some areas of Shumen, Silistra and Dobrich in the northeast, but also in Montana in the north, the minister has added.

Pavlova has promised authorities will work hard to make sure power supply to all towns and villages in the areas of Silistra and Shumen will be addressed by noontime.

As many as 11 villages, in remote areas that are hard to access due to the snow, are now affected. Twenty-four hours ago their number was 50, falling to 38 in the evening of Sunday.

Officials maintaining the country's power grid say some 2093 customers of electricity distributor Energo-Pro were cut off from the power grid as of 07:00 local time (EET), all of them in northeastern Bulgaria where the company is an active supplier.

No disruptions have been detected along the grids of other suppliers.

In the southwestern Bulgarian city of Pernik, however, customers of the local heating utility reported trouble after charcoal used by the utility froze over the weekend. Local officials are now saying supply has been restored.

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