On Sunday, November 26, Odesa and Odesa region experienced complications due to heavy snowfall, which caused icy conditions on the roads. As a result, the Odesa Oblast Infrastructure Restoration and Development Service announced traffic restrictions on several key routes in the region.
Traffic on the public roads of national importance M-15 Odesa-Reni (to Bucharest) and M-28 Odesa-Yuzhne was temporarily restricted for heavy vehicles. Later, traffic on the Odesa-Reni highway was completely blocked for all types of vehicles, and restrictions were imposed on heavy vehicles on the M-05 Kyiv-Odesa highway.
The bad weather caused several road accidents in the region. A truck carrying grain overturned on the Odesa-Reni highway near the village of Krasna Kosa, but the driver was not injured. A traffic jam occurred on the same highway in the village of Broska due to stuck cars. In the village of Lymanske in the Reni community, an ambulance was unable to get through due to bad weather, and a police officer drove the medics and the patient to the hospital in his official car. A passenger bus slid into a ditch on the highway near the village of Novokamyanka, Izmail district, but none of the 22 passengers were injured.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine confirmed that there have been many such incidents on the roads of Odesa region and noted that there were victims in these accidents. The head of Odesa Regional State Administration, Oleh Kiper, asked residents and guests of the region to stay off the roads and wait out the bad weather at home, given the slippery roads, snowdrifts, impassable places and accidents.
Due to deteriorating weather conditions, Odesa schools will switch to distance learning on Monday, November 27. Oleg Kiper said that if the weather conditions continue to deteriorate, distance learning may be extended. At the same time, kindergartens will operate in the regular group mode, but parents are advised to leave their children at home if possible.
