A snow cyclone, which left 4,400 Russian villages without electricity, is moving towards the North Western regions, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the Government Presidium held on January 13, 2011. He said local authorities must be prepared "to respond properly if anything like what we have seen in Central Russia happens there."
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin invited the governors of the Moscow Region, the Niznhy Novogorod Region, the Tver Region and the Smolensk Region to attend the meeting of the Government Presidium. More than 900,000 residents of these regions were left without electricity. The governors told the prime minister that they lacked equipment and specialists to respond to this act of nature.
"It was difficult to cope with power failures and if the situation repeats itself, we will face the same challenges," Nizhny Novgorod Region Governor Valery Shantsev said. "We lack modern high-speed snow ploughs. We are currently using Russian-made Buran ploughs, but they cannot cope with the deep snow."
The governors complained about the discrepancies in regulations: some require a four metre distance between an outer high-tension transmission wire and the nearest tree crowns, while others require 15 metres. "I took a helicopter to tour over all affected localities and saw virtually no forest clearings. Transmission lines run through dense woods," Niznhy Novogorod Governor Valery Shantsev said. Shantsev also said that it is necessary to look at the number and proficiency of transmission line service operators.
Tver Region Governor Dmitry Zelenin said that there are a total of 35,000 kilometres of transmission lines go through forests in the region. "We would have to cut down half a million cubic metres of timber - a year's work - to clear the area," he said. "In terms of cost it equals the investment programme prepared by the Interregional Distribution Grid Company (MRSK) for the Tver Region."
The prime minister gave the governors two weeks to clean up the consequences of nature's act and submit a report to the government. "If everything is done in a timely manner, no extraordinary measures or expenses will be required," Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said. "And the North Western regions must be ready to respond to a possible cyclone properly."
Inga Vorobyova