Bulgaria: Heavy rain, heavy snow causing power outages and congestion

Heavy snowfall has left hundreds of villages out of power and many vehicles trapped in Bulgaria.

Local officials and media say more than 300 villages and towns have lost power. Electricity supplier EVN said it is having trouble recovering power supply in western Bulgaria due to strong winds, hindering the efforts of electric workers.

Torrential rain swept across areas of southeastern Bulgaria, destroying many roads and isolating many remote villages.

The Bulgarian state news agency BTA said authorities had evacuated about 100 children from the East Semkovo resort in the Rila mountains of southwestern Bulgaria. Meanwhile, the defense forces evacuated Ichera village residents near Sliven city flooded by water overflowing from Luda Kamchiya River.

Bulgaria's Regional Ministry of Public Works and Development recommends that people restrict travel while snow up to 60cm covers many parts of the country and the temperature has dropped to minus 10 degrees Celsius.

Hydrometeorists said the snow will continue to fall sharply across the country and that temperatures may continue below 0 degrees C.