Authorities work on preventive evacuation of hundreds after flooding in central Romania

Firemen, gendarmes and policemen have been working to evacuate three hundred villagers from Căpeni, in central Romania’s Covasna county, because of the breakage risk on the protection dam set up on the Olt river. The operation began on the evening of March 14. Still, only a small part of the population was evacuated as people refused to leave unless the danger was “imminent.” Although the water levels were decreasing in the Baraolt area of the Covasna county, the breakage risk on the protection dam still existed, Raed Arafat, the head of the Emergency Situations Department, said on March 15. The river Olt, which flows through the counties of Harghita, Covasna, Brașov, Sibiu, Vâlcea and Olt, was under a Code Orange warning for flooding on March 14. Meanwhile, rescue operations were underway in Braşov county throughout the morning of March 15. The rescuers were working to save eight people caught on an island formed after the flooding in the Mândra – Şercaia area. The Braşov Inspectorate for Emergency Situations said they rescued five people out of eight, and 700 of 1000 sheep stranded. A Code Yellow for flooding is in place in Braşov county on March 15, until 18:00. At the same time, the southern Romania county of Teleorman was also affected by flooding. Hundreds of households and thousands of hectares of land in 24 localities were flooded. The flooding came with the rise in water levels, due to the heavy rain and the melting of the snow. Code Red for flooding across three Romanian counties (Photo: Departamentul pentru Situaţii de Urgenţă Facebook Page) editor@romania-insider.com