Romania Floods Threaten to Cover 75 Percent of Country, Says World Vision
Heavy rain and snowfall threaten to flood 75 percent of Romania, reported the international humanitarian agency World Vision on Thursday.
Heavy rain and snowfall threaten to flood 75 percent of Romania, reported the international humanitarian agency World Vision on Thursday.
Still inundated with water from previous rainfall, snowfall, and flooding that has hit Romania since Sunday, WV reported concern that poor weather conditions forecast for March and April will cause landslides and avalanches.
“Our house is falling apart every minute. The walls are splitting and all that we gathered in our entire life is now about to become a mountain of rubble. We are afraid to stay inside the house,” Eleonora, an 86-year-old woman living in Cleanov, a village hit by rain and landslides, told WV.
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According to the group, it took only 24 hours of heavy rain to cover the north-west part of Dolj – a county in southern Romania - with mold and water that appeared from everywhere such as slopes, overflowing rivers and canals, and the rain itself.
Dolj was one of the areas first hit by the new wave of floods.
The heavy rain resulted in many people being isolated, 300 households flooded, landslides, and thousands of square miles of crops under water.
World Vision intervened within 24 hours and offered emergency support to the people affected by floods and landslides. A World Vision team began distributing bread and canned meat to 47 families in Sopot and Cot villages (Breasta commune), where World Vision has been working since 1999.
“In Sopot, we evacuated 34 people (of whom eight were children) who were facing the torrents of water using two of our rescue teams and the inflated boats,” said Liviu Raducanu, Dolj County Emergency Situation Inspectorate. “People were offered shelter in a former high school transformed into a communal center, and by their relatives.”
Breasta commune Mayor Marin Marcu reported that 70 people from Cot village were evacuated. Of that number, 40 were children.
The World Vision team has also begun distributing water and food to families affected by floods in Cotofenii de Dos village. So far 52 families have been supported.
According to a report released on Mar. 16, WV Romania is preparing further relief responses.
