Heavy snowfall cuts power to tens of thousands homes in BiH

Sarajevo, Dec 25 (IANS) Severe snowfall has disrupted electricity supply in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), leaving approximately 127,000 metering points without power across seven cantons, according to the country's electric utility company.

According to Elektroprivreda BiH, Tuzla Canton in the northeast of BiH is the worst hit, with faults on 70 power lines on Tuesday causing outages for over 65,000 customers.

In central BiH, Zenica-Doboj Canton reported 30,000 customers without power. Una-Sana Canton, in the northwest, is facing outages affecting 19,000 customers, Xinhua news agency reported.

Additionally, nearly 7,000 customers in Central Bosnia Canton experienced disruptions. Four transformer stations in Sarajevo Canton were out of service, and Herzegovina-Neretva Canton remained out of power.

Elektroprivreda BiH has deployed all available personnel and technical resources to restore power. However, ongoing snowfall, strong winds, and fallen trees are hampering efforts. The company is carrying out alternative solutions where possible and appeals to customers for patience amid these extraordinary circumstances.

Meteorologists forecast significant snowfall across much of the country until Thursday. According to local media, an event of this scale hasn't been seen in years.

Throughout the Balkans authorities issued travel warnings as snow drifts closed some major routes, including sections of motorways in Croatia.

Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia banned the movement of heavy vehicles and imposed limited traffic levels on affected roads.

Parts of Bosnia faced a total halt of railway traffic because of the snow.

Bosnia's state power company described the situation as “extremely hard” in some areas of the country. The weight of heavy, moist snow brought down distribution lines which are hard to access due to snow drifts, the company said in a statement.