Updated at 20:10, with details throughout
STA, 10 February 2020 - Strong winds, in particular in the east of the country, have been toppling trees and disrupting power supply since Sunday evening. One death case has been reported, with a tree falling on a vehicle on the Dravograd-Maribor road at around 5am, killing the driver.
Major power cuts were reported from the Zreče, Apače, Lendava and Ivančna Gorica areas, where the number of households affected totalled around 3,000, as well from the areas covered by power suppler Elektro Maribor, which spoke of roughly 7,000 households.
Elektro Celje moreover said at noon that 890 households had suffered power cuts, while the wider Celje area has also seen disruptions in the supply of drinking water as a result.
Many roofs were damaged, in particular in the north-east, in the area of Slovenjske Konjice, Velenje and Zreče.
In Šentjur a library was left without a roof, and in Ptuj, the wind blew off a part of the hospital roof. Firefighters rushed to the scene and prevented further damage. The safety of the patients and medical staff was not in jeopardy, according to the director of the hospital, Anica Užmah.
Announcing wind gusts of 70-100 km/h in the east and north-east and 70-90 km/h for other parts, the Environment Agency initially issued an orange warning - meaning the possibility of damage or accidents - for the entire country.
The alert for the north-east was upgraded to red this morning, which means people were encouraged to take active measures to prevent accidents.
Given the grave danger stemming from toppling trees, the Slovenian Forest Service has urged people to refrain from any activities in forests. The damage suffered by forests is expected to assessed in the coming days.
