Thousands of Bulgarian households have been experiencing power outages since Saturday due to gale-force winds causing disruptions along the power grid, an electricity network operator has said.

A Code Orange warning has been issued by authorities for most of Northern Bulgaria (Montana, Veliko Tarnovo, Silistra, Dobrich, Varna, Ruse, Shumen, Razgrad, Targovishte), but also for several regions in the south (Burgas, Sliven, Yambol, Haskovo, Kardzhali).

Emergency teams are working across the country to remove the damage on electricity conductors and poles, Focus News Agency quotes representatives of CEZ Bulgaria as saying.

Apart from the capital Sofia and towns and villages nearby, much of Northwestern Bulgaria has been affected, the areas around Vratsa and Montana in particular.

The gusts of wind caused two planes en route to Sofia - one from Valencia and the other from Dubai - to land in Plovdiv. At Plovdiv Airport they had to wait on board the plane for hours due to staff shortage.