ENERGO-PRO offered the institutions assistance with people and equipment to clean up and eliminate the consequences of the devastating flood in Varna's Asparuhovo district

A phased restoration of the neighborhood's electricity supply is underway

The storm that swept over Varna around 7 pm last night flooded the city with an unforgettable flood. Although there are damages to the electricity distribution network everywhere in the region of Varna, the most affected is the neighborhood “Asparuhovo”, which suffered the blow of several tidal waves that dragged mud and debris through the streets and yards.

By order of the state authorities, the electricity supply of Asparuhovo district in Varna was suspended minutes after 8 pm yesterday in order to guarantee the safety of the citizens and prevent life-threatening situations when water enters the electrical facilities from the street network. After the passage of the main front of the storm around 9:30pm, the chairman of the crisis headquarters of the district, the regional governor Ivan Velikov and the Manager of ENERGO-PRO Varna Stefan Abadzhiev agreed in a telephone conversation that the power supply in the Asparuhovo area will remain interrupted until the moment when the complete safety of the residents can be guaranteed of the neighborhood.

Representatives of the company's management took part in the work of the two crisis headquarters — at the Regional Administration and Varna Municipality and coordinated the actions to control the situation throughout the night.

The ENERGO-PRO teams were among the first to enter the neighborhood after 9 pm yesterday and immediately began work on clearing the debris, making access to the facilities and assessing the damage inflicted on the integrity of the network. Since unwinding today, additional teams and a large amount of off-road and specialized equipment have been concentrated in Asparuhovo, which not only eliminate accidents on the facilities at maximum pace, but also help Civil Protection and residents of the neighborhood in clearing and removing obstacles on the streets in the area.

Already this morning ENERGO-PRO addressed the institutions with a proposal to provide assistance with manpower and equipment in the clearing of the district. Asparuhovo. The teams of the company, which since the beginning of the natural disaster last night until now are constantly in the most affected area, constantly provide assistance in the clearing and emergency reconstruction works, both to the teams of Civil Protection and the police, as well as to the residents of the neighborhood.

The damage to the power grid as a result of the storm was significant.

Already last night, the ENERGO-PRO teams started an inspection of all the facilities supplying the area of Asparuhovo district. A transformer substation was completely destroyed, and a transformer machine weighing nearly 2 tons was dumped a hundred meters from the facility. Another substation is currently inaccessible due to the huge amount of mud accumulated around it.

The teams will work intensively during today and the coming days as necessary until the situation is fully controlled and the accidents eliminated.

Today, around 10 am, the phased restoration of the power supply in the Asparuhovo district began. Tension was applied to the area of the Specialized Hospital for the Treatment of Oncological Diseases “Dr. Marko Antonov Markov” and three other substations near it. Despite the extremely difficult situation, at 11 o'clock the ENERGO-PRO teams were able to restore power to 9 more substations in the neighborhood. The teams have the necessary equipment and at any time more than 40 specialists of the company are concentrated in a quarter. Asparuhovo. In the period from 11 to 13 hours, voltage was supplied to another 34 substations. As of 13:15 hours, 16 substations of the 62 initially affected remain without power.

“Our ambition is to restore power to the entire neighborhood as quickly as possible, but the nature of our work does not allow any compromise with the security of the people who live there. Electricity and water are an extremely dangerous combination and public safety is a top priority,” said Radoslav Tsvetkov, a member of the board of ENERGO-PRO Networks.

“After the inspections and analyses that we carried out today and considering the volume of repair and reconstruction works in the individual areas that our teams are currently carrying out, I can confidently say that the Asparuhovo district in Varna is the most affected section in the electricity distribution network in Northeastern Bulgaria. The weather hit mainly the regions of Varna, Dobrich and Veliko Tarnovo, but there are serious problems throughout the territory for which our company is responsible. Since yesterday evening, we have been working in full synchrony with the crisis headquarters, with the regional and municipal authorities. We carry out repair and reconstruction works practically everywhere on the territory of North-East Bulgaria, all available equipment is mobilized and wherever necessary our teams assist the institutions in cleaning the affected areas and restoring the normal rhythm of life”, said Stefan Abadzhiev, Manager of ENERGO-PRO Varna.