Northern Moldova stuck in snow
The road traffic has been suspended in some regions in northern Moldova, because of the heavy snowfall, according to Dmitry Capatina, of the State Road Administration.
He said that the motorway M14: Brest-Briceni-Chisinau-Odessa, in Briceni raion, the motorway Soroca-Drochia-Costesti, near the villages Solcani and Bascani, of Soroca raion, as well as near the Riscani raion, have been blocked. Other blocked roads are: Atachi-Edinet, Ocnita-Briceni, Balti-Glodeni, as well as the road segments on the motorways Balti-Falesti-Sculeni and Rezina-Orhei-Calarasi.
«The road segments from Balti to Edinet will be cleared soon. The snow-removal works are being carried out intensively. Yet, the continuous snowfall complicates the situation. Thus, we have to clear the roads every 20-30 minutes. Starting from 7 am, as many as 273 snow-handling units and 120 workers have been involved. At the same time, the National Railroad Company of Moldova [CFM] provided in assistance 14 units of snow-clearing equipment,» said Capatina.
The Ministry of Transport and Road Infrastructure asked the Customs Service to not allow heavy duty trucks crossing the state border. Yet, as many as eight customs points are still being closed down because of the heavy snow fall.
According to the Civil Protection and Emergency Services, as many as 18 settlements in Riscani, Singerei, Falesti, Floresti and Hincesti raions are facing power outages.
In Floresti raion, near the village Hirtop, relief workers saved five people stuck in a tractor in snow. Several people were also evacuated in village Rubelnita, Soroca raion.
Director of the Northern Bus Station in Chisinau, Liubovi Lagovskaya said that all the routes to the northern districts have been cancelled.
Two busses transporting people on the routes Chisinau-Moscow and Chisinau-Kiev have been stuck on the road, near Donduseni raion.
At the same time, trains are circulating normally, according to the CFM.
Prime Minister Vlad Filat held on Sunday a video conference with chairpersons of the Moldovan raions, during which he discussed the current situation caused by the severe snowfalls.
He asked Minister of Education Maia Sandu to assign the local authorities the right to decide over the temporary suspension of school classes, in settlements were the access of transport means is restricted because of the snow. The premier also asked Minister of the Interior, Dorin Recean to mobilize territorial inspectors in order to check the situation of children whose parents are working abroad, as well as of the elderly and lonely people.
According to the Moldovan Hydro-Meteorological Service, in the next days, the air temperature is expected to go down to minus 10 degrees. At the same time, the snowfalls will cease in the days to come.
Adapted from Infotag