Flooding hits Romania, Georgia

[senorpepr]

TIMISOARA, Romania (AP) -- Authorities declared a state of emergency in western Romania on Tuesday and hundreds of homes were destroyed in the former Soviet republic of Georgia after 10 days of rain left large tracts of land under water.

And in Germany, the medieval monastery that provided the set for the movie "The Name of the Rose" suffered flood damage after a creek burst its banks.

In western parts of Georgia, flooding and mudslides destroyed hundreds of homes, cut off access to dozens of villages and forced the evacuation of more than 800 people.

Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli headed to the region Tuesday after days of heavy rain, combined with melting snow, triggered one of the worst natural disasters in years in Georgia, flooding the country's second-largest city, Kutaisi.

Officials estimated that more than 70 villages were cut off after three rivers, the Tskhenistskali, the Ladzhanuri and the Rioni, burst their banks. Mudslides also damaged more than 30 bridges, hundreds of kilometers (miles) of roadways and thousands of hectares (acres) of farmland.

Energy and water supplies were also damaged and 800 people were evacuated.

In Romania, President Traian Basescu visited the flood-stricken western Timis region Tuesday and discussed with local officials how to handle the situation. "It is important to prevent deaths from the flooding," Basescu said, adding that funds would need to be spent to repair the infrastructure.

Titu Bojin, head of water authorities from the Timis county said the floods were the worst in 100 years. He said water levels in the River Timis had risen tenfold in recent days.

Some 3,400 people have been evacuated, some by helicopter, from their homes in seven localities in the Timis county in recent days, said Alexandru Chirila, a senior local government official.

About 2,000 houses have been flooded, with 400 completely ruined in the flooding. Roads and railroads are also flooded, especially near the border with Serbia-Montenegro where there has also been flooding in recent days. Heavy rain also hit the neighboring counties of Arad, Hunedoara and Caras-Severin.

Some 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) of land were flooded, authorities said.

The medieval Kloster Eberbach monastery in Germany's Rhine valley that provided the set for the movie "The Name of the Rose" suffered flood damage after a nearby creek burst its banks, local authorities said Tuesday.

Police said the basilica, wine cellar and former hospital at the monastery were flooded, and that it would take several days to pump out the water.

The Environment Ministry in Hesse state said heavy rain late Monday caused the nearby Kisselbach creek to flood. A system of walled canals, built by Cistercian monks in the middle ages, that normally would carry the water away from the structure appeared to have been clogged, they said.

Rain was forecast to stop both in Romania and Georgia later Tuesday.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/04 ... index.html