Heavy snow, which continues to fall, has caused major problems on the power distribution network, as well as chaos on numerous main roads and highways. Classes have also been suspended in parts of the country. Forecasts are worrying that the snow will continue to fall in the coming days.
The first serious snow of the year, despite being announced for days, has apparently surprised both citizens and some winter services. Heavy precipitation has also caused failures in the power distribution network throughout the country. At one point, several tens of thousands of households throughout the country were without electricity. In some areas, the failures have been repaired, and in the area covered by Elektroprivreda BiH, around 47 thousand users are currently without power. The Una-Sana Canton has been the hardest hit, where classes have also been suspended.
Classes were also suspended in several branch schools in the Republika Srpska, and snowfall left more than 60,000 households without electricity in the areas covered by Elektrokrajina and Elektro-Bijeljina. This number also varies in this case, in accordance with the dynamics of eliminating faults. Collapse also in the city on the Vrbas. Snow, during the day, covered not only parts of the city outside, but also the center, and the weight of the snow fell down city trees. Citizens resentful of winter services.
Authorities say: “everything is under control”
“Mostly, there were reports of fallen trees on roads in the city center. So we resolved all of those reports within an hour and established normal traffic flow. We hope that the rainfall will reduce its intensity in the next few hours,” says Dragan Babić from the Banja Luka Civil Protection.
However, the meteorologists’ forecasts are not encouraging. Large amounts of snow, which, they say, we haven’t had in years, but still not as much as in 2012, will fall until Thursday, and the height in lower areas will reach about 20 cm.
“Up to 50 cm of new snow in the mountains. So we can expect more serious snowfall, and along with the snow and snowfall, we also expect low temperatures and increased wind,” said meteorologist Bakir Krajinović (FHMZ).
The constantly falling snow is making it difficult for both pedestrians and drivers throughout BiH, including in the capital of BiH. Although some citizens blame the city’s utility services for taking them by surprise with the snow, this is not the case, they denied it. The utility company “Rad” says that the services are on the ground, but a big problem is caused by illegally parked vehicles, as well as summer tires of drivers who have not yet replaced them with winter tires.
“Currently, the first priority roads and parts of second priorities are being cleaned in the hillside areas where the van lines run. 40 vehicles are carrying out their activities in the field and repairing what they cleaned earlier. Around 120 workers have been engaged, responsible for street cleaning of pedestrian areas,” says Mirza Ramić from KJKP Rad.
A part of the highway towards Zenica was also covered with snow for part of the day. However, the section of the main road towards Travnik was particularly challenging. Ice and slush slowed down traffic on this section. However, the most critical conditions were on the mountain passes. Due to the depth of the snow and strong winds, the Federal Hydrometeorological Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina has issued an orange warning for today, and difficulties such as traffic jams, interruptions in electricity supply and difficult living conditions, especially in rural areas, will be witnessed until Thursday, N1 writes.
