Heavy snowfalls cause traffic disruption

The heavy snowfalls and snowstorms hurt eight Romanian counties and the capital city, causing road blockages, train delays, as well as power outages, according to the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform. Several sections of national roads and of Autostrada Soarelui (Sun’s Highway) on the Bucharest – Fetesti segment – were still closed yesterday afternoon. Rail traffic was still affected, while air traffic resumed after “Henri Coanda” and “Aurel Vlaicu” airports were closed for 4 hours due to bad weather conditions. Therefore, most of the flights, which were scheduled for Wednesday until 2 PM were cancelled or rescheduled. Among them were flights to Milan, Rome, Venice, Budapest, Brussels, Sharm-El-Sheikh and Antalya. According to the Ministry of Interior, Bucharest traffic was done in winter conditions but there were no road blockages. Thirteen companies – 6 from Bucharest and 7 from other cities – were fined yesterday for deficiencies in the snow removal process, according to the Infotrafic centre of the Police. Almost 1,300 Romanians were stuck in Bulgarian towns, due to the heavy snowfalls recorded over the last few days, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The quoted source adds that yesterday, around 70 cars and 2 couches were stuck near the town of Razgrad, about 60 km from Ruse, close to a petrol station.