Extreme heat and storms in Romania

Weather remains extremely hot in Romania, where heavy rainfalls and storms have wreaked havoc in recent days

Corina Cristea, 04.07.2022, 11:08

The
week begins with scorching temperatures in Romania, where the heat wave and
storms have been making the headlines in recent days. Meteorologists announced
weather will remain erratic for the next few days as well, and issued code
orange and yellow alerts for extreme heat for the west of the country and some counties
in the south and centre.

In the
west of Romania, temperatures of 38-39 degrees
Celsius are expected, while in the
rest of the country highs are likely to reach 34-37 degrees. Afternoons will
see summer storms with electrical discharges, especially in the mountains, with
such phenomena also likely to be reported in the rest of the country.

For the past few days, weather experts have been issuing tens of alerts for
storms and heavy rainfalls, and the effects of some of them are still visible. In
Dolj County, in the south, where several localities were under a code red alert
on Saturday, the storms wreaked havoc. The most dramatic situation was reported
in the county capital Craiova, where it rained heavily, the wind blew roofs
away and brought hundreds of trees down, some of which fell on streets and on
vehicles.

Local
authorities are still working to address the damages caused by Saturday’s
storm, when in less than one hour extreme weather led to cars being taken away
by water and on some streets the water infiltrating under the asphalt caused it
to swallow and break. In some parts of the city, the water reached above
vehicle wheels. It rained more than 60 litres per square meter, and we have to
keep mind that all the sewage networks in Europe, not only in Romania, are
designed to carry 25 litres per square metre, the Mayor of Craiova said.

More
than 100 calls to the emergency number 112 were received, and authorities
suspended tram traffic in the city. Emergency teams worked at full capacity.

In Miercurea
Ciuc, in central Romania, trees fell on electricity cables, leaving 2,000
households in the dark. Here as well, emergency teams had to work to drain the
water from the streets and squares flooded by the heavy rainfall.

The
weather caused problems in Mehedinţi County in the south-west as well, where
the wind tore trees down, and blew away the roof of an apartment building in
the town of Drobeta Turnu Severin.

In Vâlcea
County, also in the south, the roof of a church steeple fell over electricity
cables, while in the city of Râmnicu Vâlcea the wind brought down a utility
pole. (AMP)