Hundreds Of Thousands Left Without Power As Storm Pounds Ukraine, Russia, Southeast Europe

Blizzards, snowfall, and high winds have wreaked havoc over the past two days in eastern and southeastern Europe, leaving several dead and hundreds of thousands of people without electricity to heat their homes.

A powerful cyclone that swept in from the Black Sea brought snowfall as far north as Moscow in what the Hydrometeorological Center of Russia called “one of the strongest storms to ever hit at the end of November.”

Ukraine, Moldova, Bulgaria, and Romania were among the countries hardest hit by the storms, which left almost half a million people without power on the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

The number of deaths caused by the storm in the Krasnodar region of Russia and Russian-annexed Crimea increased to four, RIA Novosti reported on November 27.

The body of a man who drowned was found in the Russian coastal city of Novorossiysk, the press service of the Interior Ministry in the Krasnodar region said.

The body of another victim, believed to be a crew member of a Malta-flagged ship that was in the Kerch Strait during the storm, was pulled from the water in Sochi.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, said some parts of the city were being evacuated. Three people were hospitalized with injuries, he said, adding that 354 homes were without electricity and many others were without natural gas.

The Aquarium Museum in Sevastopol reported the storm tore through the complex, killing all of the estimated 800 animals housed in the facility.

One death has been reported by officials in Crimea, where a storm warning remained in effect on November 27. Another death was reported on Telegram channels but not confirmed.

In war-wracked Ukraine, inclement weather adds to people’s hardships caused by Russian strikes on the country’s energy infrastructure.

Heavy snowfall across the country prompted the closure of 14 highways, while 16 of Ukraine’s 24 regions were experiencing power cuts. Especially harsh conditions were reported in the southern regions of Odesa and Mykolayiv, where snow drifts as high as 2 meters hampered traffic. Seventy-one accidents, nine with injuries, were reported in Odesa and the Odesa region.

The Ukrainian Interior Ministry said a total of 2,019 settlements in 16 regions have been left without electricity, while 1,370 trucks remain stranded, and 840 cars had to be towed.

In the Russian-occupied part of the Kherson region, 94 settlements were without electricity, said Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed head of the region. The wind knocked down nine power lines and damaged more than 50 towers, and communications and Internet have been disrupted.

Authorities in Romania and neighboring Moldova said hundreds of cities and villages have been left without electricity and water in the two countries following heavy snowfall and blizzards that prompted severe disruption of road and railway traffic.

Railway traffic has resumed in southeastern Romania, but 21 national highways remained closed as of November 27, authorities said, while schools in five southeastern counties — Braila, Galati, Tulcea, Calarasi, and Constanta — were also closed.

A total of 22 counties out of 41 and 170 villages and cities in the southeast of the country, including Bucharest, were affected by power cuts.

In Moldova, 123,000 people from almost 200 localities were left without electricity. One man died when his car veered off the snow-covered road and hit a tree on November 26, police said, adding that several other traffic accidents had been reported.

Sixteen Moldovans were injured when their bus was overturned by the blizzard on a highway in southern Romania, police said. Emergency services transported several injured people to the hospital.

In Bulgaria, snowfall and blizzards prompted authorities to declare a state of emergency in several areas in the northeast of the Balkan country — Silistra and Razgrad regions, Valchi dol municipality, Varna region, and Shumen region. Some 1,000 settlements were without electricity, Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said at an emergency government meeting on November 26.

With reporting by RFE/RL’s Russian Service, Digi24.ro, hotnews.ro, unimedia.md, AP, and Reuters