BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Heavy snowfall and blizzards in Romania and Moldova on Sunday left one person dead and hundreds of towns without power and forced the closure of some national roads, authorities said .
In Moldova, a 40-year-old man died on Sunday after the vehicle he was in skidded and crashed into a tree, Moldovan National Police said, adding that six road accidents were reported around noon .
“We repeatedly call on drivers not to hit the road with unequipped cars and to drive at low speeds,” Moldovan police said in a statement published on Telegram, warning against driving “without urgent necessity.” .
In Romania, red weather warnings were issued in the eastern counties of Constanta, Tulcea, Galati and Braila, where winds were expected to reach 100 km/h (62 mph), the National Meteorological Administration said.
Romanian Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja told The Associated Press on Sunday that more than 400 localities had suffered power outages.
Emergency authorities said state and local roads in all four counties were closed Sunday. Authorities in Constanta and Braila counties said at least 69 localities remained without power, but teams were deployed to remedy the outages. Other, less severe weather warnings were also issued in other regions of Romania.
In neighboring Bulgaria, powerful winter storms also brought heavy snowfall and prompted the government to declare a state of emergency across much of the country on Sunday. More than 1,000 localities, mainly in northeastern Bulgaria, found themselves without electricity on Sunday, according to Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov.
In Bulgaria, two people died in road accidents and 36 were injured in storms over the past 24 hours. Strong winds also closed roads, caused traffic accidents and travel delays, and downed trees and power lines, Denkov said.