Snowfall leaves thousands without power in Bosnia, halts traffic

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Heavy snowfall left thousands of homes without power across Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday, blocking roads and disrupting traffic, with access to some towns and villages entirely cut off.

The authorities banned heavy vehicles from main roads and appealed to citizens to avoid traveling, warning that fallen trees and vehicles without proper winter equipment were posing a risk. The snowdrifts were about 2 m (6.56 ft) high in some areas.

Bosnia's two power utilities reported that more than 170,000 households, mostly in the northern and western parts of the Balkan country, had no electricity due to power line failures, affecting the heating and water supplies.

The railway traffic was halted and schools and kindergartens closed in many areas due to inaccessible roads and power cuts.

The northwestern town of Drvar was completely cut off from the outside world on Tuesday, according to the town's municipal council's president Jasna Pecanac. On Monday night, dozens of vehicles were stuck in the snow for hours and travelers rescued in early hours on Tuesday.

(This story has been refiled to fix typos in the headline)

(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)