“Our services have responded to some 440 signals submitted over accidents, 171 of which concerned fires and 251 – rescue activities, in the past 24 hours. The most serious situation due to very strong wind was reported in [the capital] Sofia, where our teams responded to 124 signals, 81 of which were received over fallen trees and 14 – over billboards,” said Toshko Barzilov, head of the National Operations Centre Department at DG Fire Safety and Civil Protection at Bulgaria’s Ministry of Interior, speaking Monday for FOCUS News Agency.

“32 cars were damaged. The situation in the area of coastal Varna and Burgas, Shumen, Haskovo, and Pazardzhik was more series and we registered 10 to 15 accidents there related to the strong wind. The situation in the country is normalising. There are about 42 populated places without electricity supply, mostly owing to tree branches that fell on power grid facilities,” Barzilov commented.

In his words, these are mainly small settlements and work is done to tackle the problem.

“A woman was injured while walking in a park in the centre of the capital [Sofia] as well as an employee of DG Fire Safety and Civil Protection who was removing a fallen tree. Both of them were taken to hospital but their injuries are not life-threatening,” Toshko Barzilov assured.

Referring to information the Barziya River near the town of Montana had overflowed its banks overnight, Barzilov commented there was nothing concerning about the situation there.

“The river level has indeed risen but poses no danger to the populated places. There are no people in distress or in emergencies,” he stated.