Hungary braces for record flood
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E-mail Xinhua, June 8, 2013
With the River Danube reaching record levels at Hungary's border regions on Friday morning and still rising, the country's prime minister warned residents to prepare for the worst.
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People watch the Danube's floodwaters in central Budapest, Hungary, on June 6, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua] |
The flood is expected to crest in Budapest on Monday at somewhere around 9 meters, higher than the 8.75 meters originally estimated. To date, the record height in Budapest was 8.60 meters, set in 2006. On Friday morning the Danube at Budapest was 7.92 meters.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban, speaking in the western city of Gyor early in the day, also called on the whole country to cooperate in combating the flood waters.
Several hundred people have been called on to evacuate homes located in the floodplains and as many as 55,000 people may have to be moved, the prime minister said.
Sandbags and other temporary dikes have gone up in vulnerable areas including several residential areas of Budapest and Margaret Island, a public park in the center of the city. Two hotels, located on the island, have been vacated. Elsewhere, people living along the riverbank have been warned that the electricity will be turned off as a precautionary measure. One Budapest subway station has been closed down because the entrance is too close to the Danube and water could spill in from above.
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