Hungarian authorities evacuated 800 villagers yesterday, saying a second flood of toxic sludge from an aluminum processing plant was likely after new cracks appeared in a reservoir.
The villagers were evacuated at dawn from the village of Kolontar, closest to the reservoir that burst on Monday, killing seven people and injuring scores, and poisoning the surrounding countryside.
Authorities, meanwhile, warned thousands of residents in the nearby village of Devecser to be ready to be moved if necessary, officials said.
“The reservoir is so damaged that it is likely that it will give way for a second time,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said.
“If the dyke of the reservoir gives way, about 500,000m3 will be released. Several cracks are visible from the north side of the reservoir,” he said.
The first flood on Oct. 4 released 1.1 million cubic meters of foul-smelling red toxic sludge into villages and rivers, killing seven people and injuring scores.
“The evacuation of Kolontar began at six in the morning after we noticed that the dam started weakening at tank number 10,” Disaster Relief Team chief Tibor Dobson said.
The new crack was 7cm wide, officials said.
The Kolontar villagers were transported by bus to Ajka, the nearest major city that is 160km from the capital Budapest. Some were to stay with friends and relatives and those with nowhere else to go would be put up in the town’s sports complex, officials said.
“There is despair and sadness, but no panic,” said Orban, who was at the scene with Defense Minister Csaba Hende, national police chief Jozsef Hatala and the national chief of disaster relief services Gyorgy Bakondi.
Police and army personnel were also deployed in the neighboring village of Devecser to urge people to pack all they need in one suitcase so they could leave quickly if necessary, Dobson said.
“If deemed necessary, nearby Devecser may also need to be evacuated,” Dobson said.
Authorities started to build a dam in Kolontar to save those houses that were undamaged, the Hungarian News Agency MTI reported. The new dam would be 4m to 5m high and made of earth and rocks.
The death toll rose to seven on Friday after another body was found. One person is still missing. About 150 people have been wounded, many suffering burns.
Kolontar was devastated in the flood, with cars overturned and swept away, houses swamped, broken furniture and debris strewn everywhere.
Officials have insisted there was little risk of the pollution running into the Danube, Europe’s second-longest river.
Dead fish were seen floating in the Danube on Thursday, although environmental officials that water quality samples were close to normal in the river.
The pollution already wiped out all life in the smaller Marcal tributary and experts said it would take up to five years for that river to recover.
The wildlife protection group WWF warned of a “string of other disasters waiting to happen” all along the Danube basin.
Serbia, Croatia and Romania have said they were stepping up monitoring of the Danube given the risk of drinking water contamination in towns along the river.
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