A number of 17 national roads, and the Bucharest-Pitesti and A2 motorways, were closed to traffic on Monday.

Preschoolers and pupils grades 1 through 8 will stay home today too because of inclement weather, the Bucharest School Inspectorate decided yesterday. School classes in Bucharest and 11 of Romania’s counties were also suspended for the same reason Monday. Bucharest School Inspectorate spokesman Marian Banu told Mediafax that, nonetheless, the parents who wish to bring their children to kindergarten today too, as they don’t have anybody to take care of them at home, may do it.

Classes will also be suspended today in the counties of Calarasi and Teleorman, and in Galati County, school classes, primary, junior and senior high, will be closed through Wednesday, according to Antena 3 TV channel.

Extreme weather also forced authorities to close 190 secondary roads in 16 counties.

The worst situation was reported in Calarasi County, where more than 300 people were blocked on DN3, near the town of Lehliu. Heavy machines were sent to clear the road and eventually were able to free the vehicles stuck in snow. Snow also caught an automobile with two pregnant women, on the road between Clejani and Stalpu, in the Giurgiu County, forcing villagers and road workers to intervene and clear the road. After much effort, ambulances were able to take the women and carry them to the Bucharest University Hospital.

Another special case was that of a police officer from Poieni (Teleorman County), who helped a woman give birth, because no ambulance could reach her in time. In a separate incident, a bus carrying 36 people was caught in snow, Sunday evening, on a road in Arges County. After they waited several hours in cold, its occupants were taken by gendarmes to Pitesti. A similar incident occurred in neighboring Bulgaria, where a coach with 30 Romanian citizens was blocked by snow near 10 PM, on the return way from Turkey. Antena 3 TV channel quotes a passenger saying that blizzard and snow made the vehicle skid and leave the road strip.

Hundreds of lorries were stopped near Giurgiu by an interdiction concerning the traffic of heavy vehicles, and are now waiting to be allowed to continue their journey.

Problems were reported in the Ialomita County, where several roads were closed: DN2A Urziceni - Slobozia, DN21A Baraganu (Braila County) - Tandarei, DN1D Urziceni (Ialomita) - Albesti (Prahova), DN2 Buzau - Urziceni, DN22 Ramnicu Sarat - Braila, and DN2C Costesti - Padina.

Snow and blizzard also closed the traffic in Vrancea County, on DN23B Maicanesti - Ciorasti, in Teleorman County on the Zimnicea - Piatra and Traian - Seaca segments of DN15A, DN65E Rosiorii de Vede - Piatra, DN5C Pietrosani - Bujoru, and DN51 Zimnicea - Izvoarele, on DN65A Buzoesti (Arges) - Turnu Magurele (Teleorman).

The list of roads closed by snow also includes DN24D, near Craiesti (Galati), DN41 Chirnogi (Calarasi) - Daia (Giurgiu), DN3 near Ileana, Lehliu-Sat, Tamadau Mare and Vlad Tepes (Calarasi), DN31 Cuza Voda - Oltenita, DN4 Oltenita - Budesti.

The A1 Bucharest - Pitesti motorway is still blocked, while on A2 traffic remains blocked on the Bucharest - Drajna segment.

The Romanian Police recommends drivers to avoid the aforementioned roads, Mediafax announces.

MAI: Worst hit counties are Teleorman, Olt, Giurgiu, Buzau and Ialomita

Over 3,000 employees of the Ministry of Administration and the Interior intervened during the last 48 hours to counter the effects of extreme weather, as the worst hit counties - in terms of road traffic - are Teleorman, Olt, Giurgiu, Buzau and Ialomita.

Over 60 trains were canceled

Snow also hampers railway traffic. CFR yesterday canceled dozens of trains, while others were delayed by hundreds of minutes. The most affected routes are those connecting Bucharest to the South-East of the country. CFR recommends those who intend to travel by rail to ask for information about the situation of their trains. Furthermore, CFR officials warned that trains might leave the Gara de Nord station of Bucharest with 30 to 60 minutes of delay.

For today, CFR announced it will cancel the following trains: Acc. (fast train) 1982 Tulcea Oras - Bucharest Nord; Pers. (slow train) 9104 Targoviste Sud - Bucharest Nord; Pers. 8122 Slobozia Veche - Bucharest Nord; Pers. 8014 Constanta - Bucharest Obor; Pers. 8032 Fetesti - Bucharest Obor.

Constanta: Strong wind closes seaports

The ports of Midia and Constanta Sud at the Black Sea are closed because f strong wind, the Constanta Harbour Administration announced yesterday, quoted by Mediafax. In both ports, ships’ maneuvers were stopped as early as Sunday, as wind had exceeded 70 km/h. The same reason forced authorities to interrupt barge traffic on the Danube - Black Sea Canal, and the maneuvers of ships on the Sulina Channel and at the Sulina Bar.

Mayor Mazare gets stuck in snow

The mayor of Constanta, Radu Mazare, left the eastern city, with his sun, for the Otopeni Airport near Bucharest, to board a plane to Brazil and attend the Sao Paolo Carnival, but he got stuck in snow, near Lehliu.

“We made 14 hours from Constanta to Bucharest, and we got blocked in a snow tunnel all night long. They made us leave the motorway, and I could not understand why, because it was clear that even the secondary road would be blocked. I did not understand why they allowed only cars equipped with snow chains and 4WD vehicles cross the localities. I would have had no trouble, as I was driving a 4WD, but the small cars had already blocked the traffic,” Mazare declared, quoted by ‘Adevarul.’

Rain comes on Wednesday

Weather experts announced that precipitations will continue to fall, but they will turn into rain and sleet on Wednesday, starting from the west of the country and gradually moving upon the whole territory. On Thursday it will rain and temperatures will rise to a maximum of 9 degrees Celsius. The chief of the National Weather Administration’s (ANM) Forecast Department, Aurora Bell told RFI yesterday that snow and blizzard are usual phenomena for Romania, and this winter is normal, as this season is associated to snow, blizzard and cold, in theory.

Moscow-Bucharest-Sofia train derailed

Carriages numbers 2, 3 and 4 left tracks in the Kurilo station (region of Sofia, Bulgaria) yesterday morning, but the incident made no victims, the Bulgarian Railways announced in a press release quoted by ‘Cotidianul.’

The train carried 49 passengers in eight cars - four Bulgarian and four Romanian.

All the cars that came off tracks were Bulgarian. Authorities announced another train was due to take the passengers to Sofia, but they did not establish the cause of the incident yet. Bulgaria is also severely affected by snowfalls these days.

Snow-stuck train in Buzau county

The train, with 78 passengers aboard, was due to arrive in Galati, at 10.00 am, yet it got stuck in snow one and a half meter-deep 35 kilometers off Faurei. Among the passengers, there were small-age children returning from a trip.