Romania loses EUR 1.7 bln to flooding in eight years

Romania suffered flooding related damages of some EUR 1.7 billion between 2005 and 2013, according to data from the Romanian Ministry of Environment and Climatic Changes. During this period, 2,320 villages and towns were flooded by rivers all throughout the country, 76 people died and more than 12,000 were evicted. Almost 94,000 houses and annexes were destroyed or severely damaged. In addition to these, some 560 kilometers of national roads, almost 10,000 kilometers of secondary roads, 24 kilometers of railway and over 9,100 bridges and platforms were wrecked. Adding these together, the total amount of losses triggered by the overflow of inland rivers was EUR 1.36 billion. Adding to this figure is the EUR 340 million loss caused by the Danube, which affected 808 villages and towns. All these figures have been included in the motivation document for a Government decision to approve the national protection plan against flooding. Romania started working on this plan in 2005. Total investments in this plan stood at some EUR 45 million, mostly funded with European funds. The plan, which mostly consists in studies, is supposed to be finished in December this year. editor@romania-insider.com