Hundreds of trees down, cars damaged in Bucharest after freezing rain

Hundreds of trees were downed in Bucharest after the freezing rain during the weekend, leaving cars damaged and blocking pedestrian or road traffic all over the city. The trees broke under the weight of the ice layer. On Saturday, January 26, some 800 trees were down, as well as several electricity poles and cables. The Bucharest - Ilfov Emergency Inspectorate intervened in 960 cases involving trees: 890 in Bucharest and 70 in Ilfov, Mediafax reported. Some 14,000 calls were made to the emergency number 112 within 12 hours, Digi24 reported. Many people called 112 to report the fallen trees, which prompted the authorities to use the Ro-Alert system to request that only emergencies with victims be reported. The authorities received as many as 10 to 12 calls reporting on the same fallen tree, Monica Dajbog, a spokesperson for the Internal Affairs Ministry (MAI) explained. They had to increase the number of firemen and dispatchers over the weekend to cope with the high number of cases where interventions were required. Also on Saturday, beginning with 16:50, the Bucharest Transport Company (STB) decided to halt the circulation of trolleybuses because of the “extreme weather conditions.” STB replaced the trolleybuses with buses in the areas where no bus lines were available. Trams also got stuck because of the ice deposited on the cables. Elsewhere, the entrance to the Ştefan cel Mare metro station was blocked by a fallen tree. By Sunday morning, the firemen in Bucharest and Ilfov county were called to 1,800 emergency situations caused by the freezing rain, mainly involving fallen trees and poles, News.ro reported. Over 220 cars were damaged as a result. The District 4 City Hall announced it would offer damages to anyone whose car was damaged by the fallen trees. Over the weekend, in 20 counties impacted by the bad weather, the firemen and road police staff had to intervene to clear away over 2,200 trees and 44 poles that damaged 363 cars, MAI announced. A total of 28 road segments were impacted. Icy weather closes roads, disrupts rail and air traffic in Romania (Opening photo: Inquam Photos/ Alexandru-Busca) editor@romania-insider.com