The roads throughout the whole country would be passable on January 4 2008 by noon, Vesselin Georgiev, Focus new agency quoted director of the Republican Road Infrastructure fund as saying.

All night long, 1350 snow-ploughs had been at work. Around 1.30am, the strong winds in the Razgrad, Rousse, Silistra and Dobrich regions calmed down and snow--ploughs could start work. Around 7am sand and salt was thrown over all roads in the Razgrad region, Dnevnik daily said.

Snow-ploughs were being transferred from Razgrad to the Rousse region, since more snow fell there. A lot of work was being put into cleaning the Shipka pass on both sides.

There was no electricity in 19 settlements in the Varna region, 16 villages were without water as a result of the weather, representatives of the regional Civil Protection Service told Darik radio.

The Souvorovo municipality would maintain its state of emergency. On January 3 the Aksakovo municipality, with the exception of Aksakovo and a couple of villages, had declared a state of emergency as well, mayor Atanas Stoilov said.

All Varna exits, except for the Varna-Bourgas road, were closed for traffic because of the snow. The Varna-Shoumen segment of the Hemus highway was closed in both directions. The old Varna-Rousse road was closed as well.

Forty-five machines of regional road management in Varna were working to clear roads. The Civil Protections Service advised drivers not to travel on January 4.

Varna Airport had cancelled all incoming and outgoing flights. If snow-fall would stop and the wind would calm down, the runway could be cleared for landing and take-off later on December 4.

Varna port remained closed for all ships, Dnevnik daily said.