Red and orange alerts had been issued for
Bucharest and its surroundings, which were hit by heavy rainfalls, gale-force
winds and small and medium-sized hail.
Streets, underground stations and passages were flooded
forcing the city’s water & sewerage supplier to intervene in some areas.
Gale-force winds brought down trees, which fell on streets and vehicles.
Railway traffic was disrupted close to Bucharest
after several trees had fallen on the tracks. The storm also disrupted the air
traffic and three flights scheduled to land on the Bucharest Henri Coanda airport
had to be redirected to Craiova, Timisoara and Belgrade in Serbia.
A Tarom flight from Bergamo, due to touch down at
17 hours in Bucharest had to fly over the area and wait for better weather conditions.
Similar weather phenomena were
registered in several other locations, in the counties of Giurgiu and Ilfov.
Meteorologists have activated local bad weather alerts for several areas in the
country as numerous localities have been affected. Broken electrical wires
caused the risk of fire and fallen trees disrupted road traffic. Many yards and
households were flooded by the heavy downpours. Rescue teams, road workers and
volunteers needed to intervene in certain areas to reduce the effects of
extreme weather phenomena. Representatives of the Inspectorate for Emergency
situations have reminded people that after receiving bad weather alert
messages, they must find shelter and close the doors and windows of their homes
and if they are in open spaces, they must stay away from posts, pillars or
billboards, which can cause them harm.
Numerous nowcasting alerts have been issued by
meteorologists in Romania since the beginning of this month. Experts believe
that raising temperatures and high humidity are responsible for this type of
extreme weather phenomena.
(bill)