Flooding in Romania

Almost every year, especially in early spring, floods hit Romania.

This year has been no exception to the rule, as in the past few days, heavy rainfalls have wrought havoc in several counties in southern Romania.

The death toll stands at four.

Also, large areas of farmland and dozens of roads are submerged.

The most affected have been the counties of Teleorman and Olt, where hydrologists issued a code red alert against flooding.

Central authorities interrupted their Easter holiday and went to see some of the worst affected villages.

In Beius, Teleorman County, Prime Minister Victor Ponta, alongside the Minister of Regional Development and Public Administration, Liviu Dragnea, used an inflatable boat to reach the flooded roads of the village.

Ponta entered some of the locals’ houses, where people asked him to take urgent measures to rebuild the protection dam.

Actually people have been waiting for the authorities to start the works ever since the flooding of 2005.

“I wanted to see for myself what should be done to prevent things like this from happening in the future, because this is where the floods hit in 2005 and in other years as well. The General Director of the Romanian Waters National Administration explained the technical solution.

"We will earmark the money needed for these works, which I hope will be completed this year, for people to know that things have been fixed for a long time to come” Victor Ponta said.

The Prime Minister promised the locals that the Government would give them building materials to repair their houses and will allocate funds for the building of dams, for such disasters to no longer occur.

Farmers too have been severely hit by the heavy rains of late.

Thousands of hectares of crops may have been compromised in the south of the country, where soil humidity is high and where more rain is expected in the coming days as well.

Early this month, the Romanian Waters National Administration announced that 6% of Romania’s population lives in areas facing a high risk of flooding.

That is why specialists have drawn up hazard maps, covering 11 river basins in Romania.

The most vulnerable areas are the lower course of Siret River, in eastern Romania, the Banat area, in the southwest and the confluence of the Prut and the Danube in the south-east.