A number of mountain routes in the counties of Arges, Fagaras and Sibiu were closed because of avalanche threats. Mountain rescuers recommend tourists to avoid travelling to this area, given that several tens of people have been stranded a few days ago in chalets and guesthouses waiting for snow-removal machines to clear the roads. After raising the alert level for snow storm to yellow in 28 counties in the south, east and the capital Bucharest, meteorologists say we will see a few days of freezing temperatures that may even drop to 20 degrees below Celsius. Here’s the director of the National Weather Forecast Service, Ion Sandu with the details:

Ion Sandu: “There will be a significant amount of snow and wind blowing above 60 km per hour. There will be no more precipitation starting on Wednesday, but temperatures will drop considerably. We may even have minus 20 degrees Celsius in Bucharest on Thursday night.”

The Defence Ministry says more than 4,000 military are on standby for emergency action to help the population confronted with snow and blizzard. Health Minister Raed Arafat has asked the staff of the emergency ambulance service, the Emergency Mobile Service for Resuscitation and Extrication and the Inspectorate for Emergency Situations to organise patrols during the night to be able to help homeless people and take them to special centres so as not to be affected by the cold snap. The heavy snowfall and frost are creating a lot of problems across Europe.

Tens of people have died because of the cold in Poland and the Czech Republic. In Serbia, the authorities rescued 600 people, including 30 children, from snow-bound buses. Croatia is facing the heaviest snowfalls in the last 57 years. The massive snowfall has also caused havoc for road travel in Monenegro, Bosnia Hertegovina and Slovenia. In Germany, air travel has been seriously disrupted by the cold and snow storms, with 200 flights being grounded, while serious traffic jams are reported in France.