A snowstorm has hit Nur-Sultan; in the spring season the capital is seeing heavy snowfall, VRK News reports.
Because of the heavy snowfall, buildings and skyscrapers are barely visible to residents and visitors of the capital.
According to forecasters, today, 23 March, the capital has variable cloud, precipitation in the form of rain and snow during the day, and black ice. The wind is north-easterly turning north-westerly, 9–14, with gusts of 15–20 m/s. The air temperature is 6–8 degrees of frost at night and 0–2 degrees of frost by day.
Utility workers cannot keep up with snow removal
The capital's akimat explained that today 960 units of special equipment have been deployed in snow removal, along with over 1,700 road workers.
Over the past 24 hours 31 thousand cubic metres of snow were taken out of the capital. Snow removal in Nur-Sultan is organised in a two-shift mode, intensified in the evening and at night, with adjustments to snow-clearing routes.
First of all, under the rules, areas with very heavy traffic are cleared so that there are no traffic jams on the roads. Next, areas with medium intensity are cleared of snow — squares, station areas, pavements and so on.
All the snow is taken to eleven dumps located in all districts of the capital. Photo and video cameras are installed at the dumps for monitoring.
Meanwhile Astana residents continue to complain about the work of the utility services.
At the same time, according to the Emergencies Department of Akmola region, from 10:30, owing to worsening weather conditions — limited visibility, crosswind and heavy snowfall — traffic has been restricted for all types of vehicles:
- on the Yekaterinburg–Almaty road, km 1291–1353, section from Nur-Sultan to the Karaganda region border
- on the Nur-Sultan–Kabanbai Batyr–Nura–Temirtau road, km 16–51, section from Nur-Sultan to the Karaganda region border
Bus services suspended
Because of the heavy blizzard, suburban routes in Nur-Sultan have also been suspended, the city transport operator CTS reports.
In particular, buses No. 302, 305, 307, 310, 311, 312, 315, 316, 317, 318, 320, 321, 322, 326 have stopped running. Route No. 12 does not reach Arnasai, Sarytogai and Belasar streets (without entering the Prigorodny residential area, it goes directly to the airport).
The bad weather has also affected the work of the capital's airport.
“Because of weather conditions the Nur-Sultan–Zhezkazgan flight has been cancelled. A storm warning is also in force from 11:00 to 18:00. Winds are expected to strengthen, with gusts of up to 18 m/s. Note that because of weather conditions two flights have been sent to Almaty. These are the Shymkent–Nur-Sultan and Kostanay–Nur-Sultan flights,” said Anvar Shalekenov, press secretary of Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport.
From 16:30 to 20:00 the airfield is closed for snow clearing. The Kyzylorda–Nur-Sultan flight went to the alternate airfield in Karaganda.
Passengers are asked to treat the situation with understanding and to follow announcements by the airlines and the social media of Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport.
