Snow apocalypse in Odesa region: Odesa-Reni highway blocked, roads and streets in chaos

On Sunday, November 26, snow and blizzard hit Odesa region. Due to the bad weather, more than a hundred settlements were left without power, and in Odesa, stormy winds felled trees. Traffic on the region's roads is hampered: as of 11:00 a.m., 48 traffic accidents have been reported.

On the M15 Odesa-Reni highway, traffic was banned for all types of vehicles until the weather is overcome, the Infrastructure Restoration and Development Service in Odesa Oblast reported. Traffic restrictions for trucks were also introduced on the M-05 Kyiv-Odesa highway.

Throughout the day, forecasters predict sleet, rain and ice, northeast winds of 25-30 m/s.

As of 11:00 a.m., 14 trees have fallen in Odesa, and utility companies are cleaning up the aftermath of the weather, the Odesa City Council reported.

"As of now (14:23 - Ed.), the air temperature is between -1 and +2. It is raining and snowing, reaching up to 40 cm. Strong north wind, gusts of which reach up to 30 m/s. The roads are wet, with snow and drifts (piles of snow blown by the wind across the roads)," said Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Mustafa Nayem.

According to him, 112 vehicles and 154 employees are working on the roads of the region to remove snow and treat the pavement with anti-icing materials.

Workers have rescued 30 vehicles, including four buses, from snowdrifts. Four trees have been removed from the roads, Nayem said.

Part of Odesa region left without electricity

As of 10:00 a.m., 116 settlements in the region were without electricity due to bad weather, DTEK Odesa Power Grids reported. Izmail and Odesa districts were the most affected.

55 power crews were engaged in repairing 41 overhead lines feeding 754 transformer substations.

As of 12:00, 131 settlements are without power. A part of Kyivsky district of Odesa is without power due to an emergency shutdown of equipment at one of the city's high-voltage substations, DTEK Odesa Power Grids reported.

Bad weather caused dozens of accidents

The Odesa-Reni and Odesa-Yuzhne highways have been temporarily closed to heavy vehicles since 8:30 a.m., the Odesa Oblast Infrastructure Restoration and Development Service reported. The ban lasted for 12 hours. As of 09:00, the highway was closed for all types of transport.

The Odesa City Council also warned of ice on Kyiv and Tiraspol highways, as well as on Shkodova Hill.

As of 11:00 a.m., 48 reports of road accidents were recorded on the region's roads. Some of the accidents occurred on the Odesa-Reni highway. Two people have been reported injured, the press service of the Main Department of the National Police in Odesa region reported.

"Most accidents occurred in the Bilyayivsky and Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky directions involving trucks and buses," the report said.

Thus, a truck with grain overturned on the Odesa-Reni highway near the village of Krasna Kosa. The driver was not injured.

On the same road, but near the village of Broska, cars got stuck on a hill, causing a large traffic jam.

Near the village of Novokamyanka, Izmail district, a Varna-Kyiv bus with 22 passengers slid into a ditch. Police say no one was injured.

A bus traveling from the city of Sofia in the direction of Izmail also drove into the ditch. It happened near Orlivka in the Reni community. There were 19 passengers and two drivers on board, and they were not injured. They were taken to one of the local schools.

A bus from Bucharest to Odesa with 42 passengers (including five children) and two drivers also got stuck on the side of the road near the village of Novosilske. Police and rescuers evacuated people to a local school.

An ambulance could not pass near the village of Lymanske in the Reniyska community. The patient was taken to the hospital by a police officer in his official car.

Rescuers pulled another ambulance out of a snowdrift in Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi district.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine urged drivers to be careful and cautious, and to call 101 or 102 if necessary.

"Those who were going to leave, please refrain from traveling and wait out the bad weather," the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

As reported by OBOZ.UA:

- Earlier, weather forecasters warned that Ukraine would be covered with snow over the weekend. Difficult weather conditions were brought by a cyclone, and wind, rain and sleet were predicted in many regions.

- A real winter has come to the Ukrainian Carpathians. The temperature on Mount Pip Ivan Chornohirsky was -16 degrees in the morning, with a north wind blowing at 15 m/s. The network also showed the winter landscape on Mount Pikuy.

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