Snow cuts off electricity to thousands of homes and halts traffic in Bosnia

Heavy snowfall led to the loss of electricity to thousands of homes across Bosnia and Herzegovina today, closing roads, disrupting traffic and isolating some towns and villages, making them difficult to reach.

The authorities banned heavy vehicles from driving on main roads, and appealed to citizens to avoid travel, warning that fallen trees and vehicles not equipped to drive through snow pose a danger. The snow reached about two meters in some areas.

Bosnia’s two electricity utility companies announced that more than 170,000 homes, mostly in the northern and western regions of the country, do not have electricity due to power lines being cut, affecting the availability of heating and water supplies.

Railway traffic stopped, and schools and kindergartens were closed in many areas due to the impassability of roads and power outages.

Yasna Ptsants, head of the Drvar City Council, said that the city located in the northwest of the country was completely cut off from the outside world today, and on Monday night, dozens of vehicles stopped in the snow for hours and travelers were rescued in the early hours of this morning.