© Reuters / Artem Korenuk
Since January 20, Saratov on the Volga River has been hit by several heavy blizzards unseen in 30 years, with the authorities saying the fallout exceeded 80 centimeters.
The city of 900,000 was unprepared for so much snow. Many of streets became impassable to see Saratov remaining stuck in a constant traffic jam for days. Only one out of 10 tram routes are currently operational, while bus and trolley circulations between the city's center and the suburbs seized.
The bad weather led to numerous flights being delayed at the Saratov airport. The trains traveling from Siberia to the Russian South got stuck in the snow outside the city on a number of occasions too.
The locals are complaining on social media that they have to walk for five to 10 kilometers every day to get to their jobs - and doing this while tackling huge snowbanks is a feat worthy of a true polar explorer.
A petition for a state of emergency to be introduced had quickly gathered more than 32,000 votes.
Almost 120 small towns and villages were completely cut off by the snow. On Tuesday, the authorities said that access to more than 40 of them had been restored, but there's still a lot of work to be done.
More than 1,150 snow clearing vehicles are currently working across the Saratov Region to somehow cope with the situation. Around 150 of those units were provided by the Emergencies Ministry and the Russian military after the local governor sent a cry for help.
The people of Saratov have already seen trail-builders, usually used to make roads in war zones, in the streets as well as an APC, employed to help cars stuck in the snow.
The Saratov authorities said that the removal of snow from the city will likely continue until spring. Luckily, the meteorologists promised that there'll be no more blizzards this week.
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