Arctic Slovenia

ARCTIC SLOVENIA

The ice-clad catenary at the Postojna station

Pivka - main street leading to the downtown

After the tempestuous weather and the polar vortex ceased to trouble the USA and Canada, at least for now, it appears that its rage has turned upon Europe. Enjoying the spring-like weather whole January long, three days ago we were brutally confronted with the winter in its harshest form. The unusually warm weather caused that the enormous quantities of the water from Mediterranean Sea have evaporated and concentrated in the massive rainy cyclone, pushed northwest by the winds from the northern African and Middle East deserts. At the same time the very cold anticyclone started to drift from Russia toward southeast. They clashed together right above the southeastern Europe, with the disastrous consequences on the ground. A great deal of central and northern Italy, including Rome, was flooded, and so was also the south of Slovenia, while Austria, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania got the enormous quantities of snow, between 1,2 - 1,5 m high. On top of that the extremely strong wind, blowing with gusts up to 160 km/h, created the snowdrifts up to 5 meters high. Hundreds of people had to be rescued from the vehicles, stranded in the snowdrifts on the highways.

Postojna - everything is covered with the ice

Slovenia  got its share of the heaven-sent "blessings" too.

While the northeast woke yesterday into the 4 feet thick blanket of snow, the real disaster hit the southeast. Heavy icy rain, chilled with the notorious local cold western wind Bora, dressed  the whole region, some 40 miles in diameter, into the icy armor up to one inch and more thick. The branches, tree tops, and the whole trees cracked massively under the weight of ice, falling everywhere - on the roads, railroad tracks, cars, power lines. Those latter were tearing apart even by itself, not able to support the massive weight of the ice anymore. Here and there even the masts, wooden, concrete, or steel, went down with them too. In just few hours the land turned not into the winter fairytale but winter nightmare, closely resembling those scenes from Arctic. The life without lights and heating begun, and those still having the old coal stoves in their homes soon realized how lucky they are.

Broken trees lining the road toward the Postojna downtown

While the road workers, firemen, and the members of the Civil protection forces cleaned relatively fast the roads, at least the main and most vital ones, and made them passable, this could not be said for the electricians. Deep snow, covered with the layer of ice, made the access to each power line mast, not standing next to the road, a painful task, and the ice coating made the climbing all but impossible. To make the things even worse, the strong, icy north wind turned their work into the hell. On top of that, when working in the forest areas, constantly falling trees not only turned their efforts into Sisyphean task but also endangered their lives. Even three days later, Postojna, a city with some 9,000 inhabitants, and many surrounding villages are still without the electric power. It was said it will remain so at least for the next four days. The damage in the forests is enormous - over 6,000 square miles of them, mostly the finest spruce trees, are devastated.

Austrian Taurus motor stranded at Prestranek

Postojna - stop for the trains that are not coming

The thick sleet and the falling trees completely blocked the railroad traffic. As I write this, three days after the storm, not a single train has yet moved, except for the special maintenance vehicles carrying the track workers to the tree-blocked places. While the Slovenian Railroads (SZ) have managed to replace somehow the passenger transport with the buses, the freight transport on the line from Koper and Trieste completely stalled. The problem is not just the catenary on which the thick ice acts as an insulator, but also the tress falling all the time on the tracks, tearing the catenary wires, and making even the diesel haulage useless. The direst consequence is the complete blockage of the Slovenian sole port Koper, which generates the 60% of the whole freight traffic on the SZ network. The damage here has not been assessed yet, as it accumulates every day of the standstill.

Public announcer at Postojna station

While the sleet is not that rare in these places, prone to the often collisions of two or even three different weather fronts - the Mediterranean, the continental, and the Alpine, not even the oldest people remember one so bad and causing so much damage. The sycamore trees, lining the road to the Postojna passenger depot, witness this in the most brutal way. Planted in 1850s, when the railroad construction of the Vienna - Trieste line reached this town, they survived 160 years without the problem - until this storm. Now they are almost completely broken, with only the trunks and the thickest branches remaining. Everything else, including the tree tops, is on the ground.

Icicles everywhere. The rear of the train stalled at Prestranek yard

On Saturday, the second day of the storm rage, I went to the three consecutive stations on this line, interestingly all starting with P: Postojna, Prestranek, and Pivka, to record the sleet and its consequences. While the wildest furry has been over, the icy rain was still falling and the wind was still strong, making the photographing conditions quite miserable, especially for the cameras which were completely soaked. Even my old bones were frozen, and only the strong, hot teas, enhanced with the hefty dose of rum and consumed every so often upon the body's demand, prevented me from the worst.

The sycamore trees planted 160 years ago when the railroad reached Postojna. They survived a lot, but not this winter

Clearing the havoc at Pivka

It will take some time before the owner will drive it again

From yesterday the sleet affected area spread practically over the whole country. At present around 100,000 households or around 15% of population is without electric power. Power wires are falling down everywhere, either because of the falling trees or just under the weight of the ice. Practically all secondary roads are closed because of the trees, while the highways are icy and the people are advised to refrain of any travel. The railroad traffic is practically at standstill because two mainlines, the one from Italy and Koper and the one from Austria (Also because of the 1.5 - 2 m high snowfall there) are closed and not generating any traffic for the rest of the network.

Too many passed by this sign with the broken wrists and ankles

The whole situation has been proclaimed as the natural catastrophe of the national proportions and our lady prime minister, visiting most affected places today, already said we will ask the European Union for the financial assistance because of the enormous damage, as we are  entitled for this help in such circumstances.