States of emergency had been declared in the municipality of Kostinbrod in the Sofia district and in parts of Velingrad municipality, as night fell on February 7 2012, the latest day in Bulgaria’s severe winter weather crisis.
 
Bulgaria has requested assistance through the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism.
 
The heavy rain and resultant flooding have left eight people dead in the Haskovo district in southern Bulgaria, while much of the country saw intense snowfall, strong winds and sub-zero temperatures.
 
Bulgaria’s European Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva, who holds the bloc’s humanitarian aid and crisis response portfolio, said that Bulgaria most probably would get European aid but it was also true that most of the Europe was suffering from severe weather, Bulgarian National Radio reported.
 
Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov, who has been co-ordinating operations nationally and has been among senior office-bearers to visit the flood-hit areas, said that 500 000 euro would be released for reconstruction of flood-destroyed houses.
 
Five thousand euro would be paid to each family that had lost a member in the flood tragedy, Tsvetanov said, according to Bulgarian National Radio.
 
Earlier, the Cabinet declared February 8 a day of national mourning.
 
On the evening of February 7, the Sofia-Bourgas "Chaika" train was blocked by deep snow that led to a failure of electricity supply, state railways BDZ said. The train already had spent more than two hours at the Tulovo station because of the power cut, BDZ said.
 
A snow plough and fire engine were sent to a spot on the Harmanli – Topolovgrad road were two buses and seven cars were stuck because of a fallen tree, local news agency Focus said, quoting Haskovo’s fire brigade.