A state of emergency has been declared in Chelyabinsk region in areas buried under snow

An emergency regime has been declared on the territory of Varna, Nagaybak, Kartala, Kizil, Agapovsky and Bredinsky districts of the region, which suffered more than others from the consequences of bad weather.

“An operational headquarters has been created to monitor and stabilize the current situation. Operational and working groups of fire and rescue subdivisions have started to work in particularly difficult directions of movement”, - the Ministry of Emergency Situations said.

Due to a strong snowstorm, some of the region's highways had to be closed since 23 February. Clearing snow drifts is still ongoing. The drifts provoked congestion on the roads, in which over 400 people got stuck during a blizzard. Half of the victims had to be evacuated. A strong blizzard in the region is accompanied by a gusty wind, its speed reaches 25 meters per second. In some areas, at the same time it got colder to minus 40 degrees.

Earlier, heavy snowfalls covered several regions of the country at once. Due to the consequences of the bad weather, the authorities of some subjects had to go to extreme measures. For example, on the eve of the holidays, the Crimean bridge across the Kerch Strait was blocked for the first time. The movement of cars on it was stopped due to a snowstorm and a strong crosswind.