Thousands left shivering on the coldest day of the year in Hungarian town as district heating fails

A fault in the district heating system brought heating to a halt in Kazincbarcika on 19 January, city mayor Péter Szitka (MSZP-DK-Momentum-Párbeszéd-Greens) announced in a Facebook post on Monday evening.

Thousands of residents left without district heating

Mr Szitka explained that engineers from Barcika Szolg Kft had pinpointed the rupture in the pipeline by Monday afternoon.

The breakdown will leave more than 500 households without district heating or hot water for around another 24 hours. Affected buildings stretch from numbers 2 to 28 on Csokonai Street, numbers 1 to 17 on Mikszáth Kálmán Street, and include the Székhelyóvoda nursery.

Specialists are already isolating the faulty section. Once complete, they will refill the system with hot water and restart district heating across the city. Residents outside the isolated zone can expect “meaningful warmth” overnight, the mayor said, though the process will take time.

Local council steps in with emergency aid

Mr Szitka urged those unable to arrange alternative heating at home or stay with relatives and friends to head to the Egressy Béni Cultural Centre, which has been opened as a warming shelter. He later confirmed that nurseries and kindergartens would use electric heaters and radiant warmers to keep children cosy. Primary schools have been shuttered for an extraordinary break, with childcare provided, while care homes for the elderly are bridging the gap with electric radiators.

Heating restoration slower than hoped

The local hospital has switched to its own backup system, with all wards now heated and patient care unaffected, said Dániel Mukics, spokesman for the National Directorate General for Disaster Management, in a statement to the Hungarian News Agency on Friday evening.

He added that an operations team had assessed the crisis, with disaster response units and the defence committee offering full support to the council and residents. Contingency plans include warming buses from Volán and jointly run shelters with the local authority, should they prove necessary.

According to Borsonline, restoration of district heating in Kazincbarcika is progressing more slowly than anticipated due to massive water loss. Despite round-the-clock efforts by the utility firm’s staff, radiators won’t heat up again until afternoon.

Today is one of the coldest days of this winter with temperatures below -20 degrees in come regions.

Hungary’s brutal winter has turned some segments of the Danube into a frozen battlefield, packed with massive ice sheets. Icebreakers are now battling their way through the chaos to keep the river flowing. Even Australian media is buzzing about their unusual work!