Snow blocking East European roads...01/21/00

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - Drifting snow collapsed a dozen homes and forced Romania to close its borders with Hungary and Ukraine Friday after as much as 8 feet of snow blanketed Eastern Europe. Snowstorms blocked traffic on several roads, mainly in central and northern Romania, isolating dozens of villages in the counties of Bihor, Satu Mare, Cluj, Salaj and Mures, Romania's traffic police said. Near the borders with Hungary and Ukraine, "the snow blanket reached (8 feet) and we lost contact with our people...along the border," said Col. Petru Tiplea, spokesman for Romania's border police. He said the borders were declared closed after contact was lost and many border officers could not reach their checkpoints. A dozen houses collapsed under the weight of the snow around the village of Coroieni, 270 miles northwest of Bucharest.