Breaking News: Danube River Flooding

[Gtmalacd]

I was surfing the net when I came across this:


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/04/17/udanube.xml&sSheet=/portal/2006/04/17/ixportaltop.html

[alicia-w]

i saw something about that a couple of days ago...

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WEATHER/04/15/d ... index.html

[nholley]

They seem to be pretty well prepared.....they already have Tent Cities erected incase it gets really bad for residents.

[CajunMama]

Moved over here to global weather

[Yarrah]

It seems the situation's really bad over there. I heard it hasn't been this bad in 111 years and that a few dikes have been destroyed by the floodwaters, flooding entire villages.

[alicia-w]

7,000 flee Danube flooding, dam breach
Romania now seeing the worst of the flooding in Central Europe

Thousands of Romanians fled their homes on Wednesday as the rising river water of the Danube flooded more than 100 villages and threatened to destroy many others.

In southwest Romania hundreds of villagers in Bistret crowded into schools and hospitals with their livestock and poultry as rescue workers raced to repair a breached dam that has been seeping water for days, threatening several villages.

Farther west, 500 people spent the night in army tents after the Danube, Europe’s second-longest river and a major transport artery, flooded Rast village.

Authorities have evacuated nearly 7,000 Romanians so far, including 1,000 from Bistret, after the Danube hit its highest level in a century throughout the Balkans.

Many more may have to flee if the river continues to rise.

“We will be forced to evacuate all the 10,000 villagers in the region, because the wind is blowing so hard and the sky is very cloudy, so we will have more problems,” Bistret mayor Constantin Raicea told Reuters.

“Workers are bringing bread, fruit and water to the schools and hospitals where people are waiting ... and young people are looking after cattle and sheep which the villagers sent to the hills.”

Rain adds to woes
The Danube, which flows from Germany through some of the biggest capitals in central and eastern Europe, has been rising for weeks due to heavy rains and melting snow.

Romanian authorities said torrential rains were expected to last until Thursday with lighter rain until next week.

Governments in Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia prepared for heavy damages after some 420,100 acres of farmland and major ports were flooded, while shipping was halted in some areas except for emergency and supply vessels.

The Danube is a key shipping route between Western Europe and the Black Sea region and the low-lying plains around it provide some of Europe’s most fertile farmland.

One of 10 Europeans live in the Danube basin and the region is still recovering from floods last year that killed scores of people and caused massive damage to farmland and infrastructure.

“We are from the most god-forsaken part of this country ... And now this thing with the Danube comes,” 53-year-old Emil Marinov told daily Trud in the northeastern town of Vidin.

“We’ve lost all hope.”

Bulgaria, Serbia also hit
In the Bulgarian town of Silistra, authorities evacuated around 40 people after the Danube breached a barrier that had been weakened by locals stealing sandbags. Soldiers and divers worked to plug the gap.

Officials across the region said high water pressure and the long time the Danube has been at peak levels had worsened flooding damage.

In Serbia, water levels on the Danube and most other rivers were dropping. Rescue teams reinforcing dikes said they could not build up defenses fast enough.

Romanian Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu appealed to people in the threatened areas to help rescue teams reinforce defences.

But TV footage showed young men playing soccer in Bistret and smoking cigarettes while gendarmes and soldiers piled sandbags on the grassy mud dam.

“We are working to defend their houses and any additional hand is welcomed,” Tariceanu told the state radio.

Villagers across the region pleaded for more aid, with some Bulgarians accusing the government of sending too little too late.

“Nobody cares about us,” said 53-year old Simeon, who lives in a block of apartments just 50 yards from the Danube near the port in Lom, a town of 6,000 people. Authorities estimate almost half of it is under water.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12386585/