The situation in Sofia after the strong storm and hailstorm on Monday afternoon is now normal. About an hour, an hour and a half after the disaster, most of the reports were processed. This was stated at a briefing by the director of the "Emergency Assistance and Prevention" Directorate at the Sofia Municipality, Maria Teneva, quoted by Nova TV. There is no information about people injured in the storm.
According to her, the storm was short, but intense. "According to data from the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology, about 19 liters of rain fell per square meter in a short time. The hail also led to the fall of a large amount of leaves, which blocked some of the rain gutters, she summarized.
The operational duty center of the “Emergency Assistance and Prevention“ Directorate received about 73 signals about fallen trees and branches through the 112 system, and about 40 others were related to partial flooding of streets.
The teams of the Sofia Directorate “Fire Safety and Population Protection“ took over a large part of the signals about fallen trees, and the “Emergency Assistance and Prevention“ teams worked on the signals about blocked gutters and cleaning of the leaves. There was also a reaction to damaged traffic light systems.
According to Teneva, all signals related to the flooding were processed within about an hour. There is no information about flooded subways or metro stations. "It was not about flooded streets, but about partial flooding in individual places where the manholes were clogged," she specified. And she was categorical that the manholes absorb water, but were temporarily clogged due to fallen leaves.
Among the affected places was "Slaveykov" Square, where there was also temporary flooding due to manholes clogged with leaves. The signal was processed quickly.
There were also registered cases of fallen trees on cars. They were taken over by the fire brigade teams. According to Teneva, there were about four or five cases. Priority was given to reports of fallen trees at intersections, main roads, in front of kindergartens and at park entrances and exits.
Tram traffic on “Bulgaria“ Boulevard was briefly disrupted due to a problem with the traffic lights. Emergency crews responded quickly and traffic was restored after about 15 minutes. All reports of damaged traffic lights were removed on Monday.
The municipality assures that the main consequences of the storm have been eliminated at the moment, and the teams continue to work on the remaining reports and on cleaning the affected areas.