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Danube breaches flood barriers

A couple from Rast village, 380km west of Bucharest, tries to save their belongings on Monday after the Danube river broke several dams, causing major flooding. More than 3,000 people in the region were forced to leave their homes and farms after the Danube broke a dam near Catane village. PHOTO: EPA

The Danube river broke through flood defenses in southeastern Europe on Monday, driving thousands of people from their homes along its banks in Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria, officials said.

Swollen by heavy rain and melting snow from central Europe, the river hit its highest level in 111 years at the weekend, swamping ports and thousands of hectares of farmland.

Romanians Evacuate

More than 4,000 residents of seven villages in the south were forced to flee after a dyke collapsed at Bistret and the water threatened to submerge their houses.

The Danube water submerged land several kilometers from the river bed in the area. The authorities estimate that around 10,000 Romanians have had to leave their homes so far.

Authorities evacuated 3,200 people and more than 6,000 animals from the village of Rast in southern Romania on Monday after the Danube breached a nearby dam and flooded the area.

"Police and paramilitary units used trucks to take people out of the flooded village. They have been taken to stay with relatives or friends," police spokeswoman Maria Vasile said.

In the nearby village of Negoi, 230 people were taken to safety. Television footage showed police in rescue boats helping people to escape from their houses.

As the water pressure on protective barriers continued to rise in eastern Romania, the authorities were planning more controlled flooding yesterday.

Heavy rain, expected on today and tomorrow, could further aggravate the situation.

More than 44,000 hectares in southern Romania, a fertile region for wheat and maize farming, are under water and officials said that they would submerge another 26,000 hectares this week to help protect heavily populated areas.

"We are on alert and doing what we can to prevent damage and to save lives," said Chirica Lefter, government representative for Romania's Tulcea County.

Much of the region is still reeling from floods last year in which scores of people were drowned and houses, farmland and infrastructure worth hundreds of millions of dollars were destroyed.

Belgrade at risk

In Serbia's capital Belgrade, 250km of flood defenses held the Danube at bay as it reached record levels, but officials said there was a danger waterlogged dykes could collapse.

The Danube tributary Tisa, flowing from Hungary in the north, was rising rapidly and threatening the embankments in the northern Vojvodina flatlands.

"We now have to watch out for the long-standing pressure on the barriers, with water expected to stay high for some 10 to 15 days," said Goran Kamcev, head of Serbia's anti-flood task force.

"It could cause the dykes to leak or even break and our teams on the ground have to stay vigilant," Kamcev said.

Officials said heavy flooding had been reported in Ritopek, downstream from Belgrade, and people in the area had asked for sandbags.

In the port of Vidin in northwest Bulgaria, the river dropped slightly but more than 100 people fled for dry ground from the town and and from Nikopol downstream.

Many of Nikopol's houses were submerged.

Bulgaria on alert

Civil defense workers prepared to evacuate 600 people from the village of Zabovanovo because they expected the Danube to rise again.

"A new high wave is expected this Wednesday and there may be new flooding," said Georgi Linkov, civil defense head in Pleven, northern Bulgaria.
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