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Romania orders more evacuations as Danube rises
The River Danube rose again yesterday reaching record levels at an eastern port, and thousands more residents were evacuated from areas threatened by the surging waters of Europe's second longest river.
- AP
- Published: 00:00 April 26, 2006
Bucharest: The River Danube rose again yesterday reaching record levels at an eastern port, and thousands more residents were evacuated from areas threatened by the surging waters of Europe's second longest river.
By early yesterday, 2,800 residents had been evacuated from the village of Sarata in western Romania, and authorities were helping residents leave their homes in Bistret and two other communities. About 10,000 are expected to be forced from their homes because of the floods.
President Traian Basescu visited the area on Monday and urged residents to listen to authorities and leave, after dykes broke. The army sent trucks to help residents transport their possessions.
"We continued to evacuate people last night," Nicolae Giugea, a government official in the area told Romania's Mediafax news agency. He said an estimate of the damage caused by flooding could be made after the waters had subsided.
Evacuated residents were staying with friends and relatives, as well as in tents, schools. About 300 school pupils from the flood-stricken village of Rast resumed classes yesterday at a school 20km away.
In the eastern port of Galati, the river rose to 6.6 metres, four cm higher than the 1897 record, and slightly higher than on Monday. Specialists from Romanian's Water Company said water levels along the Danube would vary in the next few days, rising in some places and shrinking in others.
There have been no deaths from the recent flooding. Last year heavy flooding killed 70 people.
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