Strong winds and snow batter parts of Romania over Christmas

Several regions of Romania saw blizzard-level winds and snow over Christmas. Roughly 19 out of the 41 counties in the country saw a yellow code for strong winds, snow, and ice between Tuesday, December 23, and Friday, December 26.

The most substantial snow cover accumulated in Oltenia, southern Romania, and the Southern Carpathian Mountains, where snows reached approximately 25 centimeters. Winds were also especially damaging at high altitudes.

The weekend of December 27-28 saw even stronger gusts of wind in 21 counties. At altitudes above 1,700 m, snowfall accompanied by extreme winds was forecast, with gusts exceeding 120 km/h that left damaged roofs, short-circuited electrical wires, and trees uprooted in the southern area of Brașov County and the city itself.

Due to the strong wind, traffic in the Sulina area and all ports in Constanța County was suspended.

Nationwide, between December 24 and 28, military firefighters managed 8,347 emergencies. The interventions targeted the provision of first medical aid, firefighting, and carrying out actions aimed at ensuring the protection of communities.

The red code for blizzard conditions remained in effect until Monday morning, December 29, in Brașov and Sibiu counties. The strong wind tore metal sheets off two apartment buildings, pieces of bitumen from the roof of a third building, and a street advertisement in the municipality of Brașov, and destroyed the electrical wires of a home in the town of Râșnov, according to ISU Brașov.

The emergency service intervened in 16 situations as a result of strong winds, 7 involving fallen or at-risk trees, and 8 involving detached construction elements, according to ISU on Facebook.

Similarly, road workers in central Romania intervened over the weekend with 100 snow-removal vehicles in the area of responsibility affected by the blizzard. They also removed trees that had fallen onto the road on DN73A, between the localities of Zărnești and Poiana Mărului.

(Photo source: IGSU - Inspectoratul General pentru Situatii de Urgenta, Romania on Facebook)