Heavy snow in Georgia’s west leaves families without power

Heavy snow has been falling in west Georgia for several days and the area is now blanketed in a thick layer of snow and ice.

The largest snowfall occurred in the Adjara and Imereti regions. In these two areas about 100cm of snow has fallen in recent days.

The heavy snowfall and thick layer of snow has caused problems with the electricity supply and about half of families living in these two regions were now without power.

Thousands of families in Adjara’s Khulo and Shuakhevi municipalities and Imereti’s Chiatura and Sachkhere municipalities are currently without power. 

Energo-Pro-Georgia, the company responsible for electricity distribution in Georgia, said it was unclear when the supply would be restored to these families, as snow was continuing to fall and several rural roads remained blocked.

Bad weather continued in western Georgia during the whole night. Due to heavy snow it was difficult to find damaged zones,” Energo-Pro-Georgia said.

In some cases technical service groups of Energo-Pro-Georgia couldn’t drive or walk through the snow, which made it impossible to bring materials needed for restoring works to some areas.”

The company said hospitals and other facilities had generators and alternative sources of electricity so these buildings continued to function normally.

Bad weather also caused problems on the Batumi-Akhaltsike road. An avalanche fell in Khulo municipality near the route leading to Goderdzi ski resort. The road was blocked for a short period of time but as of this afternoon the road was cleared.