Damage wrought on Slovenia's forests during a heavy ice storm earlier this month is estimated at 194 million euros ($266.77 million) and will take months to repair, officials said on Wednesday.
The devastation occurred mostly in west Slovenia as a three-day freak storm brought down electricity lines and trees and coated parked cars, petrol stations and street signs in thick ice.
According to figures issued by Slovenia's forest management agency ZGS, around half a million out of 1.18 million hectares (2.91 million acres) of Slovenia's forests were damaged by the ice storm.
Almost 60 percent of the territory of Slovenia, a small Alpine country squeezed between Austria and the Adriatic Sea, is covered by woods.
Damjan Orazem, the head of ZGS, said around seven million cubic meters of wood stock would have to be felled.
"It is possible that the final (damage) figure will be even higher, as some areas are still inaccessible," he said.
Slovenia's infrastructure minister, Samo Omerzel, said last week the damage inflicted on the country's infrastructure, most notably on electricity lines, railways and roads, amounted to 120 million euros.
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