A severe cyclone has cut off power supplies to seven towns in the Primorsky /Maritime/ territory, sources at the Far-Eastern Power Utility Company told Itar-Tass. Repairs are highly impeded by a difficult situation on the automobile roads, as all the approaches to the power transmission lines are covered by snow banks. At the time of reporting, it was still unclear when the outages in question could be eliminated. Officials at the territorial department for housing, public utilities and fuel resources of the Primorsky territory the local authorities in the towns that have been disconnected from the power lines were urgently activating diesel-electric plants. The cyclone started pounding the Primorsky territory late at night Monday. Its potency was felt especially strongly in the central and southern districts. Its potency was felt especially strongly in the central and southern districts. Precipitation in the forms of snow is falling out practically everywhere. Intensive snowfall and gusts of wind of up to 27 meters per second produced aggregations of wet snow on the cables of electricity transmission lines, which led to their eventual rupturing. All in all, forty blackouts of electricity were reported on the night from Monday to Tuesday. School authorities in a number of municipalities had to cancel classes in at least two towns and to cancel some classes in other parts of the territory. To ensure safety on the roads, an instruction has been issued to suspend all the bus services in the territory. Weather forecasters say a monthly norm of atmospheric precipitation fell out on the many parts of the territory, including the regional capital Vladivostok. Forecasts say the snowfall is gradually losing its strength but the cyclone will continue outraging on the Primorsky territory for at least one more day.
