threatened by flooding and thousands fled their homes after dykes broke as the Danube river reached its highest level in over a century.
Governments in Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria declared a state of emergency in flood stricken regions. In Romania, workers armed with explosives were seen breaking dykes as part of controlled flooding in farmland areas to prevent floods in more densely populated regions.
But help came too late for thousands of impoverished villagers in southern Romania where time has stood still and already muddy roads turned into lakes. Romanian television showed desperate people with their last belongings sitting on the back of horse-pulled carts, including an elderly woman who was crying after she left her crumbling home.
Christian aid organization World Vision warned earlier that two-thirds of the country may be submerged by water. By late Tuesday, April 18, at least an estimated 10,000 people were evacuated from villages in southern Romania, including in Rast where 3,000 people and 6,000 animals were evacuated, and the southern towns of Calarasi and Fetesti where about 4,700 people were forced to flee.
Baptist aid workers were among Christians supplying food and other basic supplies to the region, BosNewsLife monitored. The UK-based Christian charity Project Romania reportedly sent eight trucks from Cardiff, crammed with about 70 tons of food, clothing, medical supplies and 20,000 Easter eggs, in time for the Orthodox Easter next week.
BAPTIST CHURCH
The charity, which was founded 17 years ago to help street children, maternity hospitals and orphanages, received the goods from across South Wales, and set off from Ararat Baptist Church in Whitchurch.
Hungarian Baptist Aid also supplied aid to Serbia, another country impacted by floods, Radio Budapest reported. The Hungary-based group announced it was supporting food supplies to rescue workers in Vojvodina, Serbia’s northern province with a large ethnic Hungarian minority.
Vojvodina, known as the "breadbasket of the Balkans" was partly submerged by water along with other areas, including Serbia’s capital Belgrade where an ancient fortress and low lying areas were flooded.
There were also problems reported in Bulgaria, where authorities have set up tent cities for evacuees. Almost half the town of Nikopol was under water while low-lying villages were cut off from the outside world.
THOUSANDS "FIGHT"
In Hungary, thousands of rescue workers and soldiers tried to fight the rising water of the country’s second largest river, the Tisza. Interior Minister Monika Lamperth told reporters that "the govermment committee which is dealing with the crisis has come up with an emergency plan for the areas in south and southeastern Hungary." which include the towns of Szolnok and Szeged.
However Hungarian authorities warned that about 160,000 people in over 51-thousand homes
remain as risk. They included residents of the southern town of Szeged, where people are working around the clock to shore up dykes with sandbags. The town was already submerged in 1879 by flooding, which destroyed thousands of homes, and aid workers hope a 21th century way of working will avoid a similar situation this time.
"Everybody works here non stop," said volunteer Iren Eros. "All capable men are involved. Even women dealing with children help their men when needed," she added.
Earlier in Szolnok, Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany urged the local population to remain calm as the government would "make available funds" to deal with the crisis. The Socialist leader has denied making pledges because of the upcoming elections, saying "sand bags have no party colors."
NERVOUS WOMAN
His promises did little to calm down Kormos Kalmanne, an older woman living in Szolnok. ”I was very nervous…We do what we can to fight the rising water," she said. "But now we have professional people who put sand bags where they are needed," Kalmanne explained, her voice trembling.
Already hundreds of people have been forced to flee their homes in Hungary, although the situation improved in Budapest, the base of Christian news agency BosNewsLife, where the Danube submerged low lying areas earlier this month.
The floods have been caused by rapidly melting snow and heavy rain in some regions, which increased the volume of the Danube, one of Europe’s main waterways, and its tributaries. Governments in Eastern Europe and the Balkans have come under pressure to improve infrastructure, as experts claim global warming is expected to increase the frequency of flooding here.
It comes at a time when the Balkans recover from last year’s floods, which killed dozens or people and destroyed large areas of farmland. Romania and Bulgaria were hoping to join the European Union next year, but there were fears the expsnsive flooding could make it more difficult for these nations to meet European requirements in time to meet the 2007 target date.(With BosNewsLife News Center in Budapest, BosNewsLife Research and reports from Romania, the UK, Serbia and Bulgaria).
