A big storm paralyzed Montenegro: The storm took away lives, trees, roofs...

A Turkish citizen died in Čanj, and a man from Tivat DP (60) at the construction site of the golf course in Luštica during the strong storm that hit Montenegro yesterday in the morning hours.

The stormy wind, accompanied by showers and thunder, collapsed all three transshipment bridges, weighing more than 400 tons, as well as three cranes in the Port of Bar, uprooted trees in several municipalities in the central and southern regions, lifted the roofs of houses and buildings, cut off the power supply electricity in parts of the country... Streets on the coast were under water, and the most critical was in Budva. Several vehicles and boats were damaged.

Meteorologists announced the possibility of storms, but there was no warning that there could be storm intensity. The warning did not come from the Directorate for Emergency Situations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs either.

The Institute for Hydrometeorology and Seismology announced yesterday that the institution "does not produce very short-term weather forecasts (nowcasting) due to the lack of a meteorological radar that would enable timely detection and recognition of dangerous meteorological phenomena". "Vijesti" has repeatedly warned that Montenegro, along with Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, is among the rare countries that do not have radars for short-term forecasting, which would be significant in preventing the risk of natural disasters.

Sufficient degree of warning?

Yesterday, the Institute announced that based on the prognostic material at their disposal, the Department for Weather Analysis and Forecasting had been announcing a sudden change in the weather and local disasters since the middle of last week.

"Since Sunday, in the bulletins, we have been confirming more pronounced and abundant showers and stating the possibility of local disasters. Based on the professional, official, certified prognostic products of the European Center for Medium-Term Weather Forecast of the ECMWF, an orange weather alarm was issued in the northern and central areas, and a yellow one for the southern areas as a sufficient level of warning of expected weather disasters. The Institute for Hydrometeorology and Seismology does not make very short-term weather forecasts (nowcasting) due to the lack of a meteorological radar that would enable timely detection and recognition of dangerous meteorological phenomena", the Institute announced yesterday.

The MUP previously said that the Institute "for technical reasons could not predict the strength and time interval of the storm".

"The storm that hit Montenegro particularly affected the coastal region, where unfortunately we also lost lives. In Čanje, a Turkish citizen lost his life at a construction site, while in Radovići, one person was killed by a lightning strike. In Petrovac, one person was rescued from the water, and in Port Bar, one worker was slightly injured. Significant material damage was caused in the port of Bar, Ulcinj, Kotor and Budva. In the central and northern part of Montenegro, minor material damage was caused in the form of fallen trees, without major damage," the announcement states.

It will take time and money for Luka Bar

All three loading bridges that have been in the Port of Bar since 1977 collapsed due to strong gusts of wind. The bridges were over 30 meters high and weighed more than 400 tons. It is not yet known how much damage there will be to Luka Bar, but for a long time it will not be able to work as before, Ilija Pješčić, director of AD Luka Bar, told "Vijesta". He emphasized that there was no indication that hurricane-force winds would occur and that there were workers on the field performing regular tasks.

"Fortunately, no one died, but a couple of workers were injured. These are minor injuries, scratches and the like," said Pješćič and explained that most of them took shelter in time.

As he explained, transshipment bridge C, which was near the coast, on which the rehabilitation of the cables and the grab was being done, was anchored and tied with chains to the anchors, the brakes and pedals were down. However, the gusts of wind were so strong at one point that the anchors broke and he went uncontrollably, at high speed, towards two other bridges and dragged them behind him, since they are on rails.

"As they piled on top of each other, the wind dragged them until they completely fell over. Just a difficult day for Luka", he said.

The financial damage caused by the loss of the bridges itself is not great, he explained, but the loss that the Port of Bar will suffer cannot be estimated because the goods they have been working with until now will be the most affected.

The Minister of Transport and Maritime Affairs, Filip Radulović, visited the Port of Bar and the site of the accident, and he told "Vijesta" that for now it is not even roughly known how much damage was caused.

"I have to say that the situation is bad, it will be a great pity. In the coming period, we will see exactly how much that figure will be," said Radulović.

He said that, as a responsible Government, he will stand behind the Port of Bar and that there is a possibility in the State Aid Control Act to give a certain amount of money due to natural disasters. When it is established exactly how much damage there is, they will help this company financially.

Yesterday, the site of the accident was surrounded by police tape, and protection and rescue officers from the Port are also on the ground. Certain parts of the Free Zone are also fenced off due to potential danger.

Rescued tourists on Lake Skadar

The Skadar Lake National Park Protection Service rescued two foreign citizens yesterday, after a tourist boat overturned during a storm.

"In the area of ​​Čakovica, in this protected natural area, the protection service quickly intervened to save two foreign citizens who found themselves in trouble due to the overturning of a tourist boat due to a storm that engulfed the whole of Montenegro in the morning hours. The protection service is available to all tourists and local communities for any assistance. We appeal to all users of the area and tourists to inform themselves about the weather before planning a stay in a protected area, because it is one of the first conditions for a stay in nature to be safe", announced the company National Parks of Montenegro.

Due to the strong storm accompanied by stormy winds that affected Montenegro, there was a problem with the electricity network in several municipalities.

The Montenegrin Electric Distribution System (CEDIS) announced that Sutomore, Čanj and Đurmani were without electricity, but that power was quickly restored.

The company said that they had interruptions in the electricity supply in part of the municipality of Zeta, Golubovci, Ponar and Barutani, Botun, parts of Podgorica, Pljevlja...

The radar costs 1,5 million, and it protects lives and property

The ZHMS previously told "Vijesta" that the institution has a large number of meteorological stations, of different levels, and is constantly working on their automation as much as possible, which provides timely and reliable data on the state of the weather.

The institution previously explained to the "News" that the "nowcasting" forecast would further strengthen the possibility of issuing a warning about the existence of an imminent threat of stormy weather, which threatens all people's economic activities, and above all their lives.

They pointed out then that the acquisition of meteorological radar is functionally connected with all projects of importance for early warning of dangerous weather conditions. The radar, they claim, was recognized in the recently completed "Disaster Risk Assessment of Montenegro", which lists procurement as an obligation in preventing the risk of natural disasters.

"As such a technical-technological device, radar (or radars) have been on the list of priority projects of ZHMS for a long time, more precisely the first priority, and so far they have been nominated for a large number of addresses and calls for projects, donor conferences... Additionally, the radar project is included year after year in the project proposals for the capital budget of the Ministry of Finance. However, the Radar project has not yet been implemented.

ZHMS replied that they are familiar with the radars that are on the market, their characteristics, as well as that there is a preliminary design, which means that once the money for purchase and installation is provided, the project will be realized very quickly.

They said that the previous conceptual projects, which included the analysis of the necessary infrastructure works, installation, training for the use of radars and their maintenance, depending on the type of radar, range from 800.000 to 1.500.000 euros.

"Radar with a value of 1.500.000 euros with procurement, installation and employee training is the most appropriate solution," they pointed out.