Government official: Flood defence capabilities lot more developed than in 2013
The peak water levels are expected to exceed last week’s levels by 6-6.5 metres in the Szigetkoz, the Danube Bend and Budapest, Bence Retvari said. Rivers will carry 400 percent more water at their peak this week, he said.
Since 2013, the country’s flood defence system has been significantly improved with 150 billion forints (EUR 380.4m) worth of development projects completed, he said. Those included the upgrade of dikes, the construction of facilities helping flood defence, building rainwater storages and a clean-up of riverbeds, Retvari added.
He noted that defence operations were ongoing along a 390km river section and at 35 settlements coordinated by local mayors and supported by the disaster management and water management authorities. Police have dispatched officers to nine sites who arrange road closures and are also filling sandbags, Retvari added. He said schools, health-care and social institutions operate uninterrupted. “State leaders participating in flood defence have postponed all of their international obligations for as long as the situation is difficult at the dams,” Retvari said.
Istvan Lang, the head of Hungary’s Water Management Directorate, said the Danube is forecast to peak at a level 30-50cm below the level of the 2013 flood. All of the affected municipalities have arranged for the setting up of dikes which are nearly half-way ready, he said, adding that they will be fully completed by the time the rivers peak.
The directorate has assigned an additional staff of 298 to be on duty along the 1,500km state-managed defence line, arranged for the delivery of 2 million sandbags and the distribution of more than 1 million sandbags to local governments, Lang said.
The Leitha river is expected to peak at Mosonmagyarovar on Wednesday night, he said. The Danube is expected to peak at Szigetkoz on Thursday morning at Gyor in the evening on that day, at Komarom on Friday morning and in Esztergom on Friday afternoon. On Saturday the river is expected to peak at Nyergesfalu in the early morning, at Vac later on and in Budapest on Saturday evening, Lang added.
