A state of emergency was declared in Bulgaria Thursday after blizzards deposited up to three meters of snow, severing power lines and blocking international traffic. Authorities in Russe, a city and region in the north, announced special measures to help people in more than 50 villages that were left without power and were cut off since Wednesday in the area along the Danube on Bulgaria's northern border, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA). Nationwide more than 300 municipalities were without electricity Thursday and rescuers were checking the hundreds of cars stranded in snowdrifts on the roads. The international highway between Sofia and the Romanian capital Bucharest was impassable, so authorities appealed to people to refrain from driving. Stormy weather also forced the closure of the international airport at Varna, on the Black Sea coast, while snowdrifts delayed rail traffic.
