Smolyan Mayor Nikolay Melemov declared a state of emergency in connection with the activated landslide in the Raykovski Livadi area, which closed the Pamporovo - Smolyan road. He announced this on Facebook.
Due to the collapse of the roadway and the activation of a landslide on the Smolyan-Pamporovo road, gas and electricity supply in the area have been suspended for safety reasons. This was announced by the press center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, specifying that a crisis headquarters has been formed by the Regional Administration, the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Regional Directorate of "Fire Safety and Population Protection", the Regional Road Administration in Smolyan, EVN and other institutions.
The movement of all motor vehicles on road III-8641 Pamporovo – Smolyan is temporarily suspended in the area of Raykovski Livadi at the 4th km. Traffic in the direction Pamporovo - Smolyan is carried out via a bypass route: road III-864 Pamporovo - Stoykite - road III-866 Stoykite - Smolyan and back and through the Rozhen pass.
Traffic in the area is regulated by teams of the "Traffic Police" - Smolyan, the Ministry of Internal Affairs added.
The problematic section is about 70 meters long, with cracks visible along its entire length in the asphalt pavement.
The landslide on the Smolyan - Pamporovo road swept away dozens of meters of the roadway. Earlier today, due to the collapse of a section of the roadway, traffic on the republican road was stopped. In the afternoon, over 5,000 square meters of earth masses slid down the slope, the director of the Regional Road Administration – Smolyan Eng. Marin Kushev told BTA. Nearly 60 meters of the roadway are completely missing.
The terrain is severely compromised, and the landslide has also affected dozens of coniferous trees, which have been dragged down the slope along with the earth masses. The section remains unstable, with new displacements being observed in places.
Eng. Marin Kushev said that a designer and a geologist are expected to arrive on site tomorrow to conduct an inspection and propose solutions. According to him, an opportunity will be sought to build a temporary road that will provide a connection until a permanent strengthening project is prepared.
The situation requires urgent measures, since the route is the main connection between Smolyan and Pamporovo and is used by both residents of the region and tourists, said Eng. Kushev.