Flooding in Romania

Some regions in Romania have been hit by flooding almost on a yearly basis. And this year was no exception to the rule; heavy downpours have caused major damage in numerous localities around the country with hundreds of household flooded and their inhabitants in shock. Some of the people have been offered shelters in schools and other buildings. The heavy rainfalls have also made a victim, a three-year old boy who drowned in Salaj, northwestern Romania. Although showers have diminished in intensity, some regions still remain prone to flooding.

Leyla Cheamil, 30.06.2016, 14:22

Some regions in Romania have been hit by flooding almost on a yearly basis. And this year was no exception to the rule; heavy downpours have caused major damage in numerous localities around the country with hundreds of household flooded and their inhabitants in shock. Some of the people have been offered shelters in schools and other buildings. The heavy rainfalls have also made a victim, a three-year old boy who drowned in Salaj, northwestern Romania. Although showers have diminished in intensity, some regions still remain prone to flooding.

A code red alert for flooding has been issued for a river in western Romania until July 1st. In order to prevent further large-scale flooding in some regions, dams and embankments have been consolidated and raised in height. However, in spite of these works, several households have borne the brunt of the latest flooding. Thousands of firefighters, gendarmes and police troops have been deployed and joined the local authorities in an attempt to help people in the affected areas. The capital city hasn’t been spared either. Torrential rains on Wednesday caused floods in several districts of Bucharest and triggered a short circuit in the North Station. The circulation of underground trains in Bucharest has been disrupted for two hours, traffic lights started to function improperly and broken trees fell on vehicles. Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea has called on all the institutions subordinated to municipality to intervene and reduce the effects of the flooding and storms.

Gabriela Firea: “We’ll do some checking to see if building sites around Bucharest are being properly signaled so that accidents may be avoided. Advertising billboards are also to be checked to see if they haven’t been affected by storms and there is the risk of falling. We have called on Apa Nova operator to commence an operation of cleaning the sewer network. We’ll also start the purchase procedure for tree-scanning equipment as there are trees that are looking good on the outside but are rotten on the interior and could be affected by future storms.”

Several counties in Romania had called for assistance in their efforts to recover from flooding, government spokesman Liviu Iolu said on Wednesday. According to him, the local authorities have called on the Ministry of the Administration and the Interior to ease access to construction materials from the state reserves. In turn, Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos has announced that under a government decision that is to be endorsed next week, financial support is to be granted to those affected by flooding.