 Tens of people have died in the last few days because of very low temperatures, mostly homeless or people who did not have adequate heating at home. Despite the joint efforts of the local officials, the police, and physicians who collected people off the street and found a place for them in hospitals or hostels, the death toll rises every day. Very low temperatures and blocked roads have also upset the activity of schools.
Classes have been suspended in tens of schools in central Romania where temperatures have reached minus 30 degrees C. A record low of minus 34.8 degrees C has been reported in Intorsura Buzaului, in the central county of Covasna. Frost has also upset railway traffic. The Passenger Railway Company has cancelled several trains and has announced very big delays in the areas with very low temperatures. After some trains derailed, speed restrictions have been put in place along certain routes.
Furthermore, the authorities have decided to increase natural gas imports from Russia by two million cubic metres a day to ensure the gas supply of the population as a top priority. The decision has been made as an emergency situation was declared in the economy on Monday against the backdrop of rising domestic and industrial gas consumption. Romania had so far imported some ten million cubic metres a day. The effects of the cold are also given wide coverage in the central papers. Romania libera headlines “We burn reserve fuel oil and import more Russian gas”.
The government has authorized energy producers to use coal and fuel oil from the state reserve and officials in the Energy Ministry have called on the company Gazprom to deliver an additional amount of gas to Romania to ensure the supply of the population. Ziarul financiar estimates the cost of additional Russian gas imports at an extra one million dollars. The paper Gandul wonders: “How much for the heat?”, and further writes: “The fear of extravagant bills has sent a chill down tens of blocks of flats; the cold puts a hole in Romanians’ pockets. Though the heat supply company RADET argues that frost will not trigger higher house maintenance bills in January, the house owners’ associations have a different opinion”.
Adevarul writes about who wins and who loses because of the cold weather. The thermal power stations and chemical works that no longer receive gas say they lose millions of lei every day. The population is in the losers’ camp, while fuel oil producing companies, the National Brown Coal Company Oltenia and the Freight Railway Company, which will transport more coal, are among the winners.
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2025-04-03
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