Powerful summer storms, accompanied by torrential rains, intense hail and strong thunderstorms, hit a number of cities in Bulgaria over the past 24 hours.
As of 4:00 a.m. on July 2, the situation in the most affected regions was gradually normalizing, but emergency teams remained on the ground to eliminate the severe consequences.
Chaos in the capital: Floods and power outages
The most serious situation was in Sofia, where between 15 and 30 liters of rain fell per square meter in a matter of minutes. The storm turned key boulevards into rivers, blocked public transport and flooded dozens of underpasses, including the one in front of the Council of Ministers.
Over 100 signals have been processed by the Directorate “Emergency Assistance and Prevention“ of the Sofia Municipality. They are mainly for:
Fallen trees and broken branches. Clogged street shafts and huge swerves. Flooded basements, underground parking lots and ground floors.Due to a broken contact network from fallen trees, the movement of tram lines on „Pirotska“, „Odrin“ and „Strandzha“ streets, as well as on „Alexander Stamboliyski“ boulevard, was temporarily suspended or hampered.
Large parts of Sofia and surrounding settlements spent hours without electricity. Power problems were registered in the central part of the city, as well as in the „Mladost“ neighborhoods (1, 3, 4), “Friendship“ (1, 2), “Lyulin“ (3, 4, 6, 7), “Hope“ 4, “Obelia“ 2 and the city of Bankya.
Serious accident in the center of Sofia
A serious accident occurred in the “Crystal“ garden after a large tree fell on a mother with two children. According to eyewitnesses, the victims were quickly removed by citizens and emergency teams. They escaped with minor injuries and fright. In general, the Sofia Municipality does not report any other seriously injured citizens as a result of the disaster.
Damages in the country and complicated traffic
The elements do not apply the brushes to the capital itself. Terrible storms and hailstones preminah and prezShumen, Plovdivand Vidin. In Plovdiv there were floods in the courtyards and between the blocks of space, and in Vidin the fire brigade was cleared of debris and fragments. Buryats are seriously hampered by traffic on Trakia Highwayin the section between Sofia and Vakarel, for the sake of loss of visibility and aquaplaning vuzniknaha nyakolko leki catastrophe.
The weather forecaster warns that the atmosphere remains unstable. National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (NIMH) veche announced zhelt code for the dangers of storms and intensive deadwood for the day 2 Julyin almost the country, which is at risk from the locality, the degree remains at the temple.
Sources: NOVA, bTV, BTA, BNT, Mediapool, and NIMH