Romanian businessman George Becali, financer of the  Steaua Bucharest football team and member of the European Parliament, arrived today ( February 12), in Dumitreşti, Vrancea County, an area very affected by the heavy snow this week. Becali, who brought in large snow removing equipment, says he will stay there until the snow in all the 16 affected villages will be removed.

George (Gigi) Becali has brought in trucks to transport the snow and hundreds of shovels for the volunteers who came to help. Becali said he spoke with Adrian Porumboiu, financer of F.C. Vaslui football team, who will  send in the affected area a truck with food and water. The businessman did something similar in 2010, when areas in the Moldova region of Romania were flooded.

The private initiative to help people in snow-bound villages came after Romania's Prime Minister Mihia Ungureanu complained about inhabitants in many of the affected regions, saying they should also contribute and not wait for the army to clear the snow in their villages.

Authorities have been struggling with closed roads, snow-bound villages, especially in Vrancea and Buzau counties, where it snowed heavily this week.  Approximately 40,000 people are isolated in over 50 villages in Vrancea County, many living without food, water and medicines. A state of alert has been issued in the county, which expects more snow in the coming days.  In Buzau County, about 23,000 people in 20 localities are isolated. The country has been under Code Yellow and Code Orange for blizzards and low temperatures for the last week and a half, and more snow is expected in the coming days in the Southern area of Romania.

Alex Camburu, alex.camburu@romania-insider.com

Additional reporting by Corina Saceanu, corina@romania-insider.com 

(photo source: screen capture)