Snow storm in the town of Poprad, eastern Slovakia, on Saturday, February 4, 2023. (source: TASR)
Emergencies were declared across central and eastern Slovakia this weekend after heavy snowfall left roads closed, trains delayed, and more than a hundred towns without power.
Authorities in the Žilina and Prešov Regions - which saw some of the heaviest falls - struggled to remove snow from roads fast enough.
Some, including a motorway stretch between Poprad and Spišský Štvrtok in the east, were closed for more than a day while in other areas drivers were left stuck in tailbacks for hours.
There were also a number of serious accidents, including in the Tatras region, after people ignored warnings not to travel to the area.
Cars are stuck in a tailback in eastern Slovakia on February 4, 2023. (source: TASR)
A fallen tree in Ploské, Košice Region, on February 4, 2023. (source: Facebook/Polícia SR - Košický kraj)
These salt truck and plow also had problems last weekend. (source: Korzár)
A car ended up off the road in the Tatras region during the weekend. (source: Facebook/Polícia - Prešovský kraj)
A car accident near Poprad, eastern Slovakia. (source: Facebook/Michal Jacko)
Meanwhile, strong winds also wreaked havoc. On February 4, meteorologists reported a gust of over 120km/h at Chopok, a popular peak in the Low Tatras.
The winds combined with heavy snows to bring trees down, some of which knocked out power supplies, leaving thousands of households in eastern and central Slovakia were left without electricity.
While emergencies remained still declared in some places on Monday, meteorologists have warned of bitterly low night time temperatures in the coming days.
Following a recording of -22°C at Lomnický Štít, the second highest peak in Slovakia, on Saturday night, warnings for very low temperatures are in place in the Žilina Region, Banská Bystrica Region, and parts of the Trenčín, Prešov and Košice Regions until Wednesday.
Slovakia may experience the coldest night of the year on February 6, meteorologists said.
