Floods in Romania affect the lives of thousands by Corina Ciubotaru

After a hot summer in Romania, the sudden rains brought flash floods and left people stranded and desperate. A 19-year old boy died after the car he was in got swept away by the waters and another one, 14 years of age, got hit by lightning while he was grazing his animals on a field. Tourists from the 17th century monastery of Sambata de Sus, a few hundred kilometers north of Bucharest have been evacuated from their guest houses for fear of flooding. In the north-east of Romania, villages Moldovita and Vatra Moldovita have been cut off by water turning dirt roads into swamps, leaving 1,400 stranded. In Harghita county, another few hundred became isolated by torrential rains, while six towns in the center of the country where also flooded. Out of the country's 41 counties, 7 more are expected to be hit by floods during the next few days. For some of them, flooding has become a common occurrence, as summer rains affect large regions of Romania each year. Authorities are usually slow or unable to react and inhabitants are caught off guard, many refusing to leave their homes and choosing refuge on rooftops in case of emergency. Floods came after a very hot period, the warmest summer in decades. Temperatures hit 43 degrees C on some occasions and the levels of drinking water have reached critical levels in some areas, where the water had to be rationalized. There were talks about declaring emergency state a month ago, but fortunately that wasn't necessary in the end.

related story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6964786.stm

by Corina Ciubotaru for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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