PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — A major hourslong power outage hit much of the Balkans on Friday as the southern European region sweltered in an early heat wave that sent temperatures soaring to more than 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
Montenegrin authorities said that an outage that lasted for several hours in the country’s power distribution system left almost the entire nation without electricity, while similar problems were reported in the coastal part of Croatia, and in Bosnia and Albania.
Nada Pavicevic, a spokeswoman for Montenegro’s state power distribution company, described the outage as a “disturbance of regional proportion,” and said authorities were still working to determine what happened.
The exact cause of the outage was not immediately clear as the regional power grid has been overloaded for days because of overconsumption and the use of air-conditioning in high temperatures.
Bosnia’s state power company said the outage there was caused by problems in a regional distribution line, while Albania’s state power company said the “extreme heat” caused the problem.
Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Albania share the Adriatic Sea coastline and the power grids in the region remain interconnected, decades after the Balkan wars in the 1990s.
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“The whole electric grid system of continental Europe is connected together, and that sometimes has its benefits but also has its flaws,” said Danko Blazevic, the head of Croatia’s electric grid networks.
“The advantage is that you can import and export and sell power, but then the flaw is that when there is a failure, its basically passed from one system to another,” he added.
In the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, the outage also caused traffic jams, with trams stopping and traffic lights not operating. Similar gridlock was reported in the Croatian port city of Split.
In Croatia’s resort of Dubrovnik, thousands of tourists were left stranded in the midafternoon, with restaurants, pubs, supermarkets, ice cream parlors and others shutting their doors during the outage. Soccer fans milled around some of the pubs with darkened television screens, unable to watch the games played at the European Championship soccer tournament in Germany.
The collapse, which started just after noon on Friday, came as authorities throughout the region warned citizens to be cautious, drink water and avoid sunshine because of extremely high temperatures.
“Don’t stay in the sun between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.,” warned Serbia’s Public Health Institute in its instructions to citizens. “If you must go out, please take a bottle of water along.”
Meteorologists say the heat in the region this week came from Africa, carrying sand particles that created a cloud-like layer, dimming the skyline.
The sweltering heat was the worst in big cities, where concrete sizzled even in the evening, and where nights offered no real respite as temperatures remained above 20 C (68 F).
While hot summers are normal in the Balkans, temperatures typically do not reach such heights in mid-June, prompting weather alerts and warnings.
Earlier this week, authorities in North Macedonia imposed emergency measures through Sunday, after which the heat is expected to relent. On Friday, authorities in Romania imposed weight limits for vehicles traveling on national roads in some counties to prevent degradation to road surfaces.
Belgrade resident Milos Jeftovic said he is following the instructions and taking every opportunity to stay near the Serbian capital’s two rivers, the Danube and the Sava. Authorities, he said, should have reduced working hours and parked water tankers in the city streets.
“Personally, I don’t have a problem ... but this is not OK, temperatures are above acceptable (levels),” Jeftovic said.
Weather warnings were also issued in neighboring Croatia, a tourism hot spot, where the heat wave is set to peak on Friday before an expected change of weather over the weekend that could trigger storms.
Montenegrin state television RTCG said that though the residents in the country’s capital of Podgorica are used to very high temperatures, some complained the heat started too early in the year. One man told the broadcaster: “I really don’t know what we are going to do.”
Experts say that extreme weather conditions are also triggered by climate change.
FAQs
PODGORICA, Montenegro — A major hourslong power outage hit much of the Balkans on Friday as the southern European region sweltered in an early heat wave that sent temperatures soaring to more than 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
Which region was known as the Balkans? ›
The Balkans are usually characterized as comprising Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia—with all or part of each of those countries located within the peninsula.
What countries comprised the Balkan Peninsula? ›
There are ten European countries that make up the Balkan Peninsula. They are Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and continental Greece. Additionally, the European portion of Turkey is also considered part of the Balkan Peninsula.
Who among the following were the inhabitants of the Balkan region? ›
The Balkan region comprises modern day countries such as Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia, and Montenegro. The inhabitants of Balkan were known as Slavs.
What is the unification of the Balkans? ›
The concept of a Balkan federation emerged in the late 19th century among left-wing political forces in the region. The central aim was to establish a new political unity: a common federal republic unifying the Balkan Peninsula on the basis of internationalism, socialism, social solidarity, and economic equality.
What happened on the Balkans? ›
Balkan Wars, (1912–13) Two military conflicts that deprived the Ottoman Empire of almost all its remaining territory in Europe. In the First Balkan War, the Balkan League defeated the Ottoman Empire, which, under the terms of the peace treaty (1913), lost Macedonia and Albania.
What is the issue of the Balkans? ›
- The Ottoman Empire ruled over a large portion of the Balkans. The rise of romantic nationalism and the Ottoman Empire's collapse exacerbated the situation, despite the Ottoman Empire's attempts to reinforce its position through reforms, which failed, and the Balkan people desired independence and political rights.
What is the largest country in the Balkan Peninsula? ›
The country that holds the largest part of the Balkans is Bulgaria (110,993 square km), just a bit more then Greece (110,496 square km), since islands are not a part of Balkans.
Is Russia Balkan or Slavic? ›
Slavic languages belong to the Indo-European family. Customarily, Slavs are subdivided into East Slavs (chiefly Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians), West Slavs (chiefly Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, and Wends, or Sorbs), and South Slavs (chiefly Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, Slovenes, Macedonians, and Montenegrins).
Is Ukraine part of the Balkans? ›
km, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, most of Croatia and Serbia, parts of Romania, Slovenia, Turkey, and even Italy and Ukraine. However, politically, culturally, and historically speaking, the term Balkan generally refers to the first 12 countries.
«The term balkan has a Turkish origin, that means precisely 'mountain'». First coined by German geographer August Zeune in the early 19th century, this word «indicated the mountain range between Serbia and Bulgaria, and only then it was extended to identify the entire peninsula».
What is a Balkan person called? ›
A list of Balkan peoples today would include Greeks, Albanians, Macedonians, Bulgarians, Romanians, Serbs, Montenegrins, and Bosnian Muslims. Other smaller groups of people are also found in the Balkans such as the Vlachs and the Roma (Gypsies), neither of whom have a national state anywhere.
What was the old name of Balkan? ›
From classical antiquity through the Middle Ages, the Balkan Mountains were called by the local Thracian name Haemus. According to Greek mythology, the Thracian king Haemus was turned into a mountain by Zeus as a punishment and the mountain has remained with his name.
Why were the Balkans so unstable? ›
A variety of historical, political, and cultural factors contribute to this chronic instability. But deep-seated nationalistic antagonisms and economic and political weaknesses have been most responsible for keeping the Balkan pot boiling.
What is the oldest race on the Balkans? ›
At the beginning of the second millennium BC the Balkan region was inhabited by different Illyrian tribes, which established the oldest central-western Balkan civilization [18]. The area was also the birth place of two of the world's greatest civilizations - the ancient Greek and the Byzantine Empire.
What were the Balkans known for? ›
The Balkans is renowned for its stunning architecture.
What type of region is the Balkans? ›
Balkans summary
For the full article, see Balkans. Balkans, or Balkan Peninsula, Peninsula, southeastern Europe. Located between the Adriatic Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Aegean and Black seas, it is inhabited by a variety of linguistic, religious, ethnic, and national groups.
What were the Balkans referred to as? ›
The “Balkan powder keg,” also termed the “powder keg of Europe,” refers to the Balkans in the early part of the 20th century preceding World War I.
What region was the Balkans before ww1? ›
On this land mass was a cluster of nations and provinces, including Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Bosnia. At the turn of the century the Balkan region was less populated and under-developed, in comparison to western Europe; it had few natural resources, so was hardly an economic prize.
What religion are the Balkans? ›
Bosnia and Herzegovina is a special case - 50% are Muslim Bosniaks, 31% are Serbian Orthodox, and 15% are Catholic Croats (therefore 46% are Christian). The remaining 4% adhere to other denominations of Christianity, other religions, or are irreligious.
