Thousands of Romanian flood victims spent a fourth day in tents on hills overlooking the Danube on Thursday while hundreds more waited anxiously to see whether the river would inundate their communities.
In the village of Spantov, 100km south-east of Bucharest, where residents fled surging flood waters — the worst in living memory — at the weekend, sheep mingled with braying donkeys, crying children and adults resting in the warm sunshine in the largest tent community of about 300.
President Traian Basescu visited evacuees on Thursday in the southern county of Calarasi, where more than 3 000 displaced people are living in army tents. About 148 communities in Romania have been affected by flooding, and almost 16 000 people have been forced to evacuate, the interior ministry said.
”We thank God because we were able to flee … we could have died in the waters,” said Ioana Vasile (57). ”I hope we get some toilets soon because I have to go in the fields and I am scared of snakes.”
Authorities and volunteers on Thursday brought bread, pork paté and blankets and were estimating evacuees will stay another week, said Cornel Coman, a government official. Meanwhile, workers were building toilets in the field.
In the village of Manastire, a dozen residents crowded by the river, which is growing by the hour. Troops frantically piled sandbags on the main road and continued to evacuate hundreds of residents.
”I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” said Alexandru Tiganila, a 47-year-old welder. ”If it floods, hundreds of houses will be under water here.”
In the community of Chiselet, a village of 3 400 people, some homes lay in ruins after the Danube washed over them, while dozens of other homes were abandoned after they were inundated. Some moved into makeshift shelters made from plastic sheets, while others crammed into army tents.
Maria Forlica (71) burst into tears as she arrived from a nearby town with food at her sister’s home, now a mass of rubble. ”Oh my boy, what has become of the house,” she wept as her great-nephew played among the ruins.
It is a situation seen along the length of Romania’s southern border, where the Danube — Europe’s second-largest river — has reached record levels in past weeks due to melting snow and heavy rains.
The ministry said 3 800 members of the police force, army, emergency services and other departments were working on flood relief, using helicopters and boats to move residents and tractors and water pumps to clear inundated areas.
Authorities said they were taking measures to prevent the spread of disease. Disinfectant has been sprayed over some areas, according to TV reports. Ambulances were dispatched to the affected area to vaccinate flood victims for typhoid fever and other waterborne diseases.
In the eastern port of Galati, the river was at a new record level of 6,61m — 5cm higher than the 1897 record.
Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu has blamed the flooding on Romania’s system of dykes — built under communism in the 1960s and 1970s to reclaim land for agriculture. Many have cracked or crumbled, however, under the weight of excess water, with the Danube flowing at double its normal volume for more than a week.
There have been no deaths from the recent flooding and no official estimates on damage. Last year, flash floods on other rivers killed 74 people and caused more than €1,5-billion-worth of damage, prompting the government to call for mandatory disaster insurance.
Areas in Ukraine and Bulgaria, and earlier in Serbia, Hungary and Austria, also have seen massive flooding. — Sapa-AP