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Heavy rain and flooding have led to a critical situation in several regions of Central Europe. Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland are the worst affected by river flooding, but large amounts of water are expected on the Hungarian stretch of the Danube.
Hungary was hit by Storm Boris on Friday, which is also causing extreme weather in neighboring countries. The center of the Storm reached Hungary overnight from Saturday to Sunday, writes Időkép.hu. Storm Boris caused hurricane-force wind gusts to hit the north-western part of the country, with meteorologists recording gusts of 131 km/h on the southern shore of Lake Balaton in Fonyód on Saturday.
The strong gusts are also accompanied by heavy rain, thus Hungary was already preparing for floods on large scale last week.
Due to huge tidal flow on the Danube, the flood alert level in Budapest is raised to level 3 from Monday. According to a statement from the Mayor’s Office, the Danube could rise to over 8 meters in the second half of the week.
MÁV-VOLÁN Group, responsible for train and bus services, asks passengers in the areas affected by the floods and storms not to start their journeys out of habit in the coming days, but to follow the official information provided by transport operators.
“Austria’s rail transport has been almost completely paralyzed by the historic floods:
our Austrian colleagues are no longer able to provide not only trains but also replacement buses for the Vienna-Hegyeshalom service, as all vehicles have been diverted to the worst affected areas,”
MÁV informed the passengers on Sunday evening.
At a press conference on Sunday, Interior Minister Sándor Pintér said that the water levels of the Danube and the Lajta (Leitha) are forecast to reach similar or even higher levels than the 2013 floods, therefore special protection measures are needed on the two rivers. The government has authorized the Interior Ministry to organize flood protection, he noted.
The National Directorate General for Disaster Management (OKF) and the General Directorate of Water Management (OVF) have already identified the places where the rise in water levels could lead to an emergency situation, such as the possible need to raise the dams or evacuate the population.
I am convinced that evacuation will not happen” because we can keep the water contained within the appropriate barriers,
the minister emphasized.
The OKF said on Sunday evening that it had set up operational teams at the central level and at the territorial level in each of the counties affected by the floods, which will coordinate damage clean-up and flood preparedness 24 hours a day. They added that flood protection is professionally managed by the water department, while the disaster management department provides assistance to municipalities that are protecting themselves.
OVF spokesperson Gabriella Siklós told M1 news channel on Monday morning that a near-record volume of water will arrive in the Szigetköz (northwestern Hungary) with the flooding, where more than five hundred OVF specialists are already present. She said that according to the latest forecast, the water level on the Danube will be about 40 centimeters lower on average than the 2013 peaks on the stretch up to Budapest and in the capital.
The most serious situation can be expected in the Szigetköz and along the Lajta, where, she said, the Danube tide will arrive in Hungary first.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán posted a video on Facebook, saying, “Budapest, the Római Part, where I am standing now, will be impassable in a day’s time. By tomorrow, the expected large mass of incoming water will be at the level of my head, and in a day or two it will be two meters higher. However, the water management officials are full of confidence because they believe that the highest tide level will not exceed the highest level ever recorded.”
He added that “just as we could cope with the highest tide level so far, we can cope with a lower one.” The Prime Minister stressed that all the necessary technical and financial means are available.
Via MTI, Featured image: X/Zoltan Kovacs