Radio România Internațional

Tag: Storm Boris

  • After Boris Ashley comes

    After Boris Ashley comes

    Never before had Central Europe seen such heavy rainfalls as those registered over September 12th and 16th when Storm Boris struck Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Austria, Czechia, Italy and Germany, killing 24 and causing significant material damage.

    Thousands had to leave their houses after their buildings had been affected, bridges collapsed and local infrastructure deteriorated. Effects have not been removed yet and a cyclone from the Mediterranean called Ashley is already visible in Western Europe heading for Romania, whose weather is going to radically change starting Sunday.

    Authorities are bracing themselves for potential extreme weather phenomena, with highs sharply dropping from 34 down to 15 degrees Celsius, 22 on Sunday and Monday when heavy rainfalls are being expected to hit 90 liters in the country’s south and part of the Carpathians.

    An exchange of air masses are expected to cause a series of extreme weather phenomena, which require attention in the following period, the head of the National Meteorological Administration, Elena Mateescu says.

    According to her, “we are speaking about significant weather instability, mainly in the west, north-west, of code yellow alerts with the quantities of precipitations estimated at 30-40 liters/square meters, after which we are going to have yellow and orange code alerts all over the country.”

    Code red alerts cannot be excluded if the expected rainfalls are going to hit 100 liters per square meter in 24 hours.

    Additional intervention forces are to be deployed to the areas the authorities consider of higher risk. The city halls in the aforementioned areas are to take all the necessary measures and get ready to evacuate the vulnerable persons in time. They must also be keeping in touch with the Emergency situation inspectorates.

    (bill)

  • The Danube water level on the rise

    The Danube water level on the rise

    Scores of people have been killed and reported missing in Central and Eastern Europe recently affected by Storm Boris. Although heavy rains ceased, swollen waters are still threatening various locations in the region, which is bearing the brunt of the latest flooding, which has also caused billions of Euros in material damage.

    According to the first expert estimates, in Romania the total damage would exceed one billion Euros. Others believe the figures are optimistic and the actual damage is double or even triple.

    A World Bank survey last year put the average damage caused by floods in Romania at roughly 1.7 billion Euros. Seven people have been killed and 65 thousand households affected by Storm Boris this year.

    The collective trauma is lingering and many are now fearing the rising level of Europe’s largest river, the Danube, caused by the heavy rainfalls and its many tributaries.

    The Danube’s rising level is not expected to cause issues to those in charge of its handling – Environment Minister Mircea Fechet said. According to him, a similar level was successfully handled in January this year and in December 2023.

    The Minister and Romanian Waters experts have flown by helicopter over the areas facing a higher flooding risk. According to expert estimates, the Danube’s level for the period between September 29 and 30 is expected to hit 79-80 hundred cubic meters per second. We recall that the river caused flooding in Romania in 2006, but its level at that time stood at more than 15 thousand cubic meters per second.

    Mircea Fechet: “According to the information made available by my colleagues, we aren’t going to have any problems whatsoever in Romania.   The flood peak in Budapest was lower than expected, about 500 cubic meters per second, which means that for the period we are going to see this peak in Romania, on September 28 or 29, forecasts have diminished from the initial ones standing at 95 hundred meters.”

    According to the latest data gleaned, the risk of serious issues on the Romanian sector of the Danube, is low, the Romanian Waters spokeswoman, Ana-Maria Agiu told Radio Romania. In turn, the president of Hydroelectrica board of directors, Karoly Borbely, said that the Danube’s rising level can be safely handled by Romania’s water installations. Mr. Borbely has also added that higher water levels also mean a significant electricity output.

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