The interior ministry activated the so-called “red code”, the highest warning level, due to the approaching extreme cold.
The alert remains in force until further notice, state secretary Attila Fülöp announced. The purpose of the red code is to prepare society for the extraordinary weather conditions currently affecting the country. The decision is based on forecasts by the HungaroMet weather service, which predicts nationwide snowfall of 20–30 centimetres from Thursday to Friday, followed by biting nighttime cold that is unlikely to ease significantly during the day. As a result, social institutions are required to take in homeless people and others in need.
At the second meeting of the crisis task force on Wednesday morning, the interior ministry reported that homeless shelters are still operating at less than 85% capacity. There is therefore sufficient space to accommodate people living on the streets in the coming days and protect them from the risk of freezing to death.
According to disaster management authorities, all state bodies have been involved since Monday in efforts to overcome the critical situation caused by persistent snowfall across large parts of the country as quickly as possible. Cities and municipalities were urged to ensure that citizens can reach public institutions, hospitals, schools and doctors’ surgeries. Disruptions to services operated by the state railway company MÁV and Volán intercity buses were almost entirely resolved over the course of the day.
The third wave of the snow front is expected to hit mainly the south and southeast of the country by Thursday morning, while temperatures in the west are already falling to minus 15 degrees Celsius or lower. Only a few road sections remain closed, and no settlements have been cut off from the outside world. Several thousand households were left without water for several hours in Szajol and without electricity in the Szeged area. Heavy goods vehicles in particular caused kilometre-long traffic jams on expressways such as motorways M1 and M5, which could only be cleared with technical assistance from the fire service. Police officers visited isolated residents living alone on farms and in remote areas, providing assistance in 70 cases.
Artificial intelligence was used for the translation of parts of the original German text.
