GALE-FORCE WIND & SNOWSTORMS JOINED BY FLOODS

( Editorial: --> 6495 ) BJELOVAR, 22 Jan (Hina) - Gale-force winds and fierce snowstorms which started in north-western Croatia on Tuesday were joined by floods on Thursday, causing the authorities of Bjelovar County to announce a state of natural disaster. The huge damage done to power transmission lines in the area should be repaired in two days. Due to failures of power transmission lines, some 100,000 households were left without electricity on Tuesday. By Thursday, Croatian Power Supply teams repaired many failures, but 20,000 households still remain without power. On Thursday afternoon, after three days of blockade, a road near the Plitvice Lakes National Park (some 100 km south of Zagreb, in Lika- Senj County) was cleared of snow. Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of Croatian Roads workers, the police and Croatian army, a section of the road where more than 400 vehicles had been trapped was cleared of snow around 2pm. Passengers whose vehicles were trapped in snow spent the last two nights in a motel and two school buildings. However, traffic will not be re-established until the road is completely cleared of snow. The clearing of snow is being hampered by ice rain which started this afternoon. Snow drifts are up to four metres high in this area, in which a state of natural disaster was declared on Wednesday. The gale in the coastal Dalmatia and Primorje regions has abated, so the bridges over the Maslenica strait and connecting the mainland to the island of Krk were again open to traffic on Thursday. (hina) jn rm 222220 MET jan 98