Strong winds brought havoc to Slovakia November 19. Fallen trees, peeled-off roofs, a blocked bridge in Bratislava, and one death were part of the chaos as of Friday (November 19) evening, the news agency TASR wrote.
In the High Tatras a man died of injuries sustained when a tree fell on a car, also wounding two others.
In Bratislava, a Polish truck crashed on the Prístavný bridge because of the winds. As the bridge is a major route, traffic in the city was paralysed.
In Nitra, a huge tree fell across a busy road, which luckily was empty at the time. Standing between a primary school and kindergarten, the tree, fortunately, was blown into an open area. A car was also hit by a tree in a different part of the city, fortunately resulting in no injuries.
Many regions suffered temporary electricity blackouts. These were fixed within one hour in Western Slovakia. Central Slovakia's distributor SSE reported 65 damaged high voltage lines and 96 municipalities having blackouts.
Rail transport in the High Tatras and several parts of Slovakia was cut back, and two-hour delays were being reported by Friday evening on major lines. Fallen trees also blocked conductor rails in several sections and traffic was halted between Kúty and Lanžhot and Skalité-Čierne. No passengers were injured.
Finally, strong winds prevented President Ivan Gašparovič from returning home from his official visit to Poland. The number of deaths in Poland reached nine on Friday, including a 6-month-old girl.
Compiled by Martina Jurinová from press reports
TheSlovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the informationpresented in its Flash News postings.
