Slovenia buried under FOUR INCHES of black ice as freak blizzard leaves 100,000 people without power and does €66million damage



Ice storm has caused €66million damage to Slovenian infrastructure

35,000 households left without electricity as pylons buckle in the freeze

500,000 hectares of forest are thought to have been severely damaged

Towns and villages cut off as roads and train lines become impassable



Swathes of Slovenia have been entombed in a four-inch thick layer of ice after Eastern Europe was hit by a freak blizzard.

Pylons buckled under the extraordinary weather conditions, leaving more than 35,000 households - up to 100,000 people - without power.

The damage is expected to reach €66million. But authorities are not yet able to reach more remote parts of the country which have been cut off as the transport network failed.

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Frozen: A traffic island and road signs are buried beneath four inches of ice after an historic blizzard hit eastern Europe Blackout: Towns and villages across Slovenia suffered power cuts as the electric grid began to collapse in the face of the historic blizzard

Rain brought in on a warm weather front collided with freezing air hanging over much of the country, causing the water droplets to turn to rock hard ice the moment they landed.

Anything which come into contact with the rain was soon covered in a thick layer of impenetrable ice.

Extreme weather chaser Marko Korosec took photographs of damage wreaked by the terrifying natural phenomenon.



Mr Korosec, 32, said cars, buildings, bridges, roads, trees, road signs and powerlines disappeared in the storm's icy aftermath.

Deep freeze: Trees are snapped like matchsticks under the weight of ice which have covered much of Slovenia

Entombed: An impenetrable layer of ice has enveloped vegetation after a record-breaking blizzard swept across Slovenia and parts of Europe

Ice storms strike in Slovenia every few years, but this one was 'extremely unusual' and covered nearly the entire country, he said.

Mr Korosec, from south west Slovenia, said: 'We've been hit by a record breaking and historic ice storm.

'It brought an extreme black ice accumulation, at some places there was more than 10cm of ice thickness.

Frozen solid: A car lies encased in a thick layer of ice as temperatures plunge in parts of Slovenia

Subzero: Freak weather conditions meant rain turned almost instantly to ice as soon as it landed - encasing swathes of the Slovenian landscape in frost

'It was brought about by the valleys being in negative temperatures, while the upper levels were experiencing warm and above zero temperatures.

'Very heavy rain was falling for several days and rapidly freezing on everything.

'Ice storms happen every few years across some areas in Slovenia, but this one covered almost the whole country.

'That's extremely unusual and especially with so much damage done.

'Nearly half of all forests in the country were badly damaged or destroyed - that's approximately 500,000 hectares of woods.

'Numerous electric poles and powerlines were brought down and more than 100,000 people went without power for several days.

Cold snap: The freezing weather brought transport links to a halt as ice made travelling treacherous

'Railways were badly damaged too and it will take several weeks before they are all fully operational again.

'Some areas are still experiencing deep ice cover but it is expected to melt over the next couple of days as warm temperatures and rain are expected.'

Mr Korosec, who lives in south west Slovenia, took the shots in the towns of Postojna, Pivka and Razdrto.

The worst hit areas were those between 500 and 800 metres above sea level, he said.

He added: 'The ice was very thick and strong, so much so that one could actually climb on it.

'It covered everything from cars, buildings, bridges, roads, trees, road signs to powerlines.

'I know it will take some days before it's all completely melted.'

Clashing weather: A combination of a warm wet front meeting an unusually cold climate caused the rare ice storm to cover the landscape in stunning icicles Treacherous: This steep descent, left, is made almost impassible by the ice storm which caused pylons, right, to buckle in the freak subzero temperatures



Mr Korosec, who works as a supervisor on motorway road weather information systems, said his home was on the edge of the disaster.

The damage to Slovenia's infrastructure caused by heavy ice in the past week will cost at least €66 million ($89 million), although extensive forest devastation could push the sum much higher, government ministers said yesterday.



Infrastructure Minister Samo Omerzel said damage to electricity powerlines was estimated at around €27million, plus another €10 million for the power distribution system.



'The damage is extraordinary because of broken (power) cables, fallen trees. Today we still have 35,000 households without electricity,' Omerzel told reporters after a cabinet session.



Damage to the state railway was put at €20 million, while the repair of roads could cost at least €9 million, he said.



Brittle: The record-breaking blizzard covered hundreds of miles of road in a thick coating of ice

Isolated: Government agencies have not yet been able to assess the true scale of the damage caused by the blizzard because swathes of the countryside are still cut off

The devastation, which will take months to repair, occurred mostly in west Slovenia where a freak ice storm coated parked cars, petrol stations, street signs and houses and brought down electricity lines and trees.



The extreme weather comes at a bad time for the tiny EU member country, which is already going through the worst economic crisis in its two decades as an independent state, Slovenia narrowly avoided an EU/IMF bailout last year.



Farming Minister Dejan Zidan said damage to forests, which cover almost 60 per cent of Slovenia, was staggering but could not be estimated just yet.



'We cannot remember ever having had this kind of damage,' he said. A detailed assessment would be possible only after more than 6,000 kilometres (3,750 miles) of backroads, clogged with snow, ice and fallen trees, are cleared.



Zidan said Slovenia would soon start talks on 'favourable, long-term loans' with the European Investment Bank and the Council of Europe Development Bank.

