After a cold week, with mixed precipitations, weather seemed it would start to improve. But the good news only lasted for two days. Friday and Saturday brought temperatures up to 14-15 degrees Celsius, but the cold returned yesterday, with temperatures cut by almost half from the previous days. Two warm and sunny days of early spring increased the danger of floods, forcing hydrologists to issue on Friday a Yellow Code warning for floods in 15 counties from the south and west of the country, which lasted until yesterday at 4.00 PM. Saturday, an Orange Code flood warning was issued on the rivers of Teleorman and Giurgiu Counties. The Orange Code was supposed to end yesterday but it has been extended until today at 4.00 PM.

Weather continues to cause problems in several regions of the country. In Covasna, for instance, fire-fighters tried for six hours to break the ice barrier formed on the Cormos River, near the town of Baraolt, to avoid the flooding of nearby houses. In separate incidents, two houses collapsed in the town of Craiova and 60 other were flooded by rain and the large amounts of snow that melted in a few days.

Some 2,500 people were isolated yesterday morning, in the Malu cu Flori and Pucheni communes, Dambovita County, by a landslide that cut County Road 724 between the two localities. In Magura Ilvei, Bistrita-Nasaud County, several houses, backyards and fields were flooded when an ice dam blocked the valley of the Ilva River. Mediafax quotes the mayor of Magura Ilvei, Petru Bora as saying that ice accumulated on the river, blocking it near the road that leads to Ilva Mare.

Landslides hamper road traffic

Road traffic on DN 73 C between Campulung Muscel and Curtea de Arges was closed, on Saturday night, by a landslide near the village of Godeni, caused by the large amounts of rain that fell these days. The slide completely washed away the road, on a distance of 15 meters. Elsewhere in the country, in the Tihuta Pass, traffic on DN 17 was hampered by heavy snowfalls and blizzard, while DN 17 C - the road that links Nasaud to the Maramures County - was covered by the Salauta River. In a different episode, on Saturday night, a large-scale landslide blocked for several hours the traffic on National Road 10 Buzau-Brasov, just outside the town of Patarlagele. An intervention team equipped with two heavy machines and two trucks worked all the night and was able to clear one lane in the morning, allowing the traffic to resume.

In Sibiu County too, a landslide blocked the traffic on National Road 7, along the Olt Valley, Saturday night. Here too, road workers struggled all the night and traffic resumed on just one lane.

Nine trains get cancelled, rerouted after landslide in Mehedinti county

Nine passenger trains were either cancelled, or rerouted on Saturday and Sunday, after a landslide cut the tracks on 30 meters between Valea Alba and Balota, in the Mehedinti County. The Fast and Intercity trains from Timisoara Nord to Bucharest Nord and their return trains are now making a detour through Filiasi-Simeria-Ilia-Lugoj-Timisoara Nord.

According to Mediafax, several rerouted trains are delayed by more than 120 minutes.

Mehedinti Police spokesman Nicolae Lohon declared on Saturday night that the landslide occurred near 8.00 PM and was caused by heavy rain and melting snow. Some 100 passengers of two Intercity trains blocked on Saturday night between Valea Alba and Balota were taken by bus to the railway stations of Balota and Drobeta - Turnu Severin. Meanwhile, the earth caved in for another 2 meters under the tracks, while another landslide might occur in the spot where a power pylon fell upon the railroad.

Skier caught by avalanche in the Fagaras Mountains dies

The skier who was caught by an avalanche in the Fagaras Mountains, near the Balea Cascada waterfall, was found dead yesterday morning by the search team sent after him. The victim was himself a member of the mountain rescue squad of Rasnov, Brasov County.

According to the chief of the Sibiu Salvamont Service, Adrian David, quoted by Mediafax, the body of the Rasnov mountain rescuer was found covered by 1.5 meters of snow. About 50 people conducted a search operation yesterday morning, the team also including rescuers from Brasov - the victim’s very squad mates.