August 24 2005
Latest Flooding Victims:
A 25 year-old man and two shepherds from northern Romania were killed by lightning and two other men drowned in a swollen river in central Romania in the last 24 hours. Lightning killed four and three other people have drowned in southern Romania in the past four days. A 9-year-old girl drowned in the northern region of Botosani and an elderly villager was crushed under a collapsing electricity pole.
Interior Minister Vasile Blaga said floods destroyed 200 houses and damaged some 5,500 others. As many as 33,000 hectares (81,540 acres) of farmland were flooded and 88 villages remained without electricity.
The government has yet to estimate losses.
Torrential rains have swept across the Balkans for most of the summer, killing dozens of people in Bulgaria and its neighbor Romania and causing hundreds of millions of euros in damage to roads, bridges, railways and crops.
About 30 people lost their lives in the worst floods in 50 years, which hit Romania in April, May and in July.
Meteorologists said more rain was expected next week.
BUCHAREST - Deadly floods in northeastern Romania earlier this month, which killed 24 people, caused damage worth 800 million dollars (670 million euros), the government said Monday.
"In all, 3,571 houses were completely destroyed and 2,993 are on the point of collapse," Interior Minister Vasile Blaga said.
"Nearly 3,000 kilometres (1,800 miles) of roads and about 100 kilometres (60 miles) of dykes were damaged by the worst floods for 30 years," he added.
"We shall at once refer these figures to the European Union so they can be taken into account by European officials when they come to decide on the aid to be extended to Romania through the EU Solidarity Fund.
"The British presidency of the EU indicated last week that the European Commission could consider diverting unspent European funds to the rebuilding of infrastructure damaged by the floods.
Romanian President Traian Basescu has called on the commission to provide 20 million euros (24 million dollars) for emergency reconstruction work.
The damage occurred during 10 days of torrential rains that drenched 42 regions. The floods threaten to overwhelm the government's tight budget and its 2005 growth target of six percent.
Floods leave 16 dead in Romania
At least 16 people have died in severe storms and flooding which have hit Romania in the past week, the interior ministry has said.
The latest victim was an 11-year-old boy, who was swept away by flood waters as he was playing with friends. Another two people are still reported missing.
More than 1,400 people have been forced to leave their homes across the country amid widespread damage to property.
This year Romania has suffered some of its worst floods in decades.
In July, flooding killed dozens of people and left thousands of homes and acres of farmland and other cultivated areas submerged.
Lightning Strike
The rains in the past week have claimed lives across Romania.
The 11-year-old boy died in Sibiu county, central Romania, on Sunday while a one-year-old child drowned in a swollen river in Suceava county, to the north of the country.
Earlier a nine-year-old girl died in the northern county of Botosani, two shepherds were struck by lightning in Muri county, also in the north, and an elderly man was killed by a falling electricity pylon in southern Romania.
About 20,000 households in more than 500 towns have been affected by the storms, with some 200 properties completely destroyed, thousands damaged and whole communities left without electricity.
More than 1,000km (620 miles) of roads have been flooded and thousands of wells contaminated, officials say. A thousand small bridges have also been damaged.
Interior Minister Vasile Blaga said some 9,000 soldiers had been deployed to help those affected by the bad weather.
The town of Comanesti, near Bacau in north-eastern Romania, is one of many hit by the country's worst floods in decades.
Torrential rains in July and August have washed away bridges, roads and a power plant, and left more than 160 homes damaged beyond repair.
Fortunately no children were in class when flood waters poured through this village schoolroom.
British aid worker Vic Brown, who spent a week in Comanesti, said: "It was as if a tidal wave had ripped through the city."
Many residents were still recovering from floods which devastated the town in 2004.
Featured Content
