BUCHAREST, Feb 18 (Reuters) – Heavy snow and rain across Romania left 200,000 homes without electricity on Wednesday, Energy Minister Bogdan Ivan said, with traffic blocked on motorways and national roads and dozens of trains delayed.
Public transport in the capital, Bucharest, was struggling under 40 cm (16 inches) of snow. Fallen trees halted road and rail traffic, schools closed in several towns and 10 ambulances in six counties were snowed in, the national emergency response agency said.
“Of the 200,000 homes affected so far, roughly 86,000 were reconnected to power, there are … 266 towns affected,” Ivan told reporters.
He added Romania’s power consumption was 7.4GW on average, with surplus wind and hydro production being exported. Production and consumption were up 11% and 6% on the year, respectively, he said.
(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Alex Richardson)
