UPDATE: Snow storm brings South Romania to a halt. Bucharest airports closed

Joi, 3 ianuarie 2008, 2:38 English | Top News

Bucharest and surrounding areas were brought to a complete halt on Thursday morning after a night of heavy snow storms that led to the closure of Romanian capital's two airports and paralyzed traffic across the city and on national roads and one highway. After the heavy snows during the past few days, several national roads were blocked, trains suffered major delays, flights were cancelled, ports were closed and ambulances proved unable to reach their destinations. A yellow code warning was instated between January 1 and 3.

The Baneasa airport and the Henri Coanda International Airport in Bucharest were closed, with the Coanda Airport spokesman saying that it was possible it would reopen in the afternoon, depending on weather.

Bucharest Mayor Adriean Videanu said the main boulevards across the city would be closed during night time to allow snow machines do their work. He urged citizens to leave cars at home on Thursday as many roads and streets have yet to be cleaned of mountains of snow.

While snow fell across most of Romania, the southern parts of the country are the most affected - especially the counties of Ilfov, Calarasi, Giurgiu and Constanta.

By Wednesday evening, there were six important national road segments still blocked: national road (DN) 65A, between Rosiori de Vede and Turnu Magurele, DN 5B between Giurgiu and Ghimpati, DN 41 between Daia and Oltenita and DN 31 between Olteniţa and Calarasi. Also because of the heavy winds, four harbors were closed on Tuesday night: Constanta Nord, Midia and Mangalia on the seashore and Constanta Sud Agigea on the Danube.

Traffic is restricted on the Danube-Black Sea Channel.

The South-Western part of Romania is affected by heavy snow and strong wind. The Craiova airport were closed until snow can be cleared. In the area of Alexandria and Slobozia, the wind speed reached 70 kilometers per hour.

Abundant snow falls and strong winds are expected to continue until Friday, mainly in the Southern half of Romania, with temperature constantly decreasing.