Bulgaria spent Tuesday clearing up after a night of storms tore through large parts of the country, felling trees onto parked cars, cutting power to substations and forcing the derby between Botev Plovdiv and Lokomotiv Sofia to be postponed. Emergency services said nobody was seriously injured or left stranded, but by early Tuesday firefighters had logged 422 emergency reports in Plovdiv alone, and a yellow thunderstorm warning remained in force for 14 districts across central and eastern Bulgaria.
Anyone who has sat out a July storm here already knows the rhythm: a clear sky, then black cloud rolling in within twenty minutes, then hail rattling off car roofs and pavements. This one hit harder than most, combining torrential rain, hurricane-force gusts and continuous lightning that lasted more than an hour in some places.
Plovdiv Bore the Brunt
Plovdiv took the worst of it. Rain, hail and lightning battered the city for over an hour, flooding major boulevards, toppling trees and overwhelming the drainage network. Of the 422 emergency calls, 78 were handled overnight; the rest were held until daylight because clearing the largest fallen trees needed heavy machinery. More than 40 parked vehicles were damaged by falling trunks and branches, and 35 trees blocked roads across the city. Three lightning strikes started fires, including one on the balcony of a residential building.
Power outages at two substations knocked out water supply in parts of the city, and the municipality warned that low water pressure could persist in some neighbourhoods until repairs finish. Eight municipal teams worked alongside firefighters, police and volunteers through the day. "I thank every citizen who gets involved in the cleaning and helps," Plovdiv Mayor Kostadin Dimitrov said. Rail services were also disrupted after a fallen tree near Plovdiv's Central Railway Station damaged the overhead line; passengers were shifted onto diesel locomotives, buses and alternative trains while engineers made repairs.
A Wildfire Near Petrich, Roads Blocked in the Southwest
The southwest fared little better. Blagoevgrad, Sandanski, Kresna and Petrich all reported fallen trees, lightning-sparked fires and blocked roads, and Regional Governor Vasil Trendafilov activated BG-ALERT, the mobile-network emergency warning system Bulgaria has spent 2026 testing and rolling out, across the Blagoevgrad region.
Traffic on the E-79 was briefly halted after high winds brought down a traffic light, and separately, a landslide combined with fallen trees closed movement through Kresna Gorge until crews reopened the route. Near the village of Razhdak in Petrich municipality, lightning started a wildfire between the local landfill and the settlement. Two fire crews, forestry workers, volunteers and more than 20 local residents fought it; Chief Inspector Stoyan Tilev said the fire was brought under control with no homes damaged and no injuries, though isolated hot spots were still smouldering.
Hail Wrecks Yambol's Greenhouses, Balconies Torn Off in Galabovo
Yambol region took the heaviest agricultural hit. Large hail wrecked crops and farm buildings, particularly around the villages of Zavoy, Kabile and Drazhevo; in Zavoy, high winds flattened greenhouses along with the produce growing inside them. Five settlements, including Hadzhi Dimitrovo and Ovchi Kladenets, lost electricity for several hours before supply was restored.
The Stara Zagora region had largely settled by Tuesday morning, with no serious injuries reported. Crews cleared fallen trees near the village of Dalboki and on the road between Elenino and Kaloyanovets. In Galabovo, hurricane-force gusts tore balcony railings from the fifth and sixth floors of a residential block, leaving metal and concrete hanging from the facade. Officials cordoned off the area, and Regional Governor Kaloyan Damyanov urged residents to stay clear of buildings and trees and to report hazards on 112.
Further north, Tutrakan was into its second day of cleanup after a separate storm hit on Sunday. Floodwater had reached the yard of the Polet kindergarten, and firefighters and civil protection teams pumped it out so classes could resume without disruption.
What This Means for British Expats
If you own property here, this kind of damage is exactly what home and contents insurance is meant to cover, though it is worth checking your policy actually names storm, hail and flood damage rather than assuming it is bundled in automatically. Bulgarian building insurance policies vary more on this point than UK ones tend to. Our insurance guide walks through what to check and how claims typically work here. If a fallen tree or branch has damaged a car, dashcam or phone footage taken promptly helps enormously, both with the insurer and with any question over municipal liability for a poorly maintained tree.
Power and water cuts of the sort Plovdiv saw are also a reminder to keep basic supplies in: torches, bottled water, a way to charge a phone, especially if you live rurally, where restoration can take longer than in a regional capital. The utilities guide covers what to do when a power company or water utility knocks out supply for an extended stretch. And if 112 is not already saved in your phone, it is the number for police, fire or ambulance anywhere in Bulgaria, and operators can generally handle a call in English.
More Unsettled Weather Before the Weekend
The cleanup is not the end of it. Tuesday's own forecast calls for sunny intervals giving way to fresh thunderstorm cloud, scattered heavy showers, possible hail again, and temperatures between 30°C and 35°C, though the northwest is expected to stay largely dry. The yellow warning covering 14 districts in central and eastern Bulgaria remains active, so anyone travelling through the affected regions, particularly along the E-79 or through Kresna Gorge, should check conditions before setting off.