On Saturday evening, the peak wave on the Danube passed Budapest. The water level in the river in the city is falling, although it still exceeds eight meters. According to local authorities, the city has weathered the threat quite well. The hydrological situation in Hungary in the flood-affected regions is starting to improve, although the services are struggling with unusual difficulties.
On Saturday evening, the peak of the Danube's flood wave passed Budapest. In line with earlier predictions by hydrologists, the water level was more than half a meter lower than during the record flood of 2013. On Sunday morning, the Danube in the Hungarian capital was gradually and steadily falling. Despite this, flood-related restrictions are still in force in the city. Some streets and tram lines remain closed.
Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony confirmed during a late-night press conference that the city is coping very well with the flooding.
“It's not over yet”
– The difficulty is behind us, but it's not over yet. We have a lot of tasks ahead of us – he reminded the journalists present at the site. He also pointed out that the flood protection investments implemented in recent years are fulfilling their promise, but the capital's authorities want to continue work related to flood protection. The supply of drinking water to the residents of Budapest is not at risk, and the vast majority of the capital's public transport is still available.
The situation in the West is improving Hungarianwhere the Danube has already dropped by several dozen centimeters. Hydrologists are also constantly monitoring the water level in the Litava River and in the emergency reservoir located along its course. At the moment, they are focusing on detecting and tracking phenomena such as seeping or waterlogged embankments and flood defenses.
The biggest problem is “flood tourists”
The Danube's peak wave is passing through towns south of Budapest on Sunday morning. In Kisapostag, despite intensive work, some residential buildings were still under water on Friday evening. However, local authorities are confident that once the water recedes, the flooded areas will be cleaned up by the end of next week.
As part of the construction of temporary flood protection, central and local authorities placed nearly 1.9 million sandbags over a section of almost 760 km.
The rescue services point out that the biggest problem for them at the moment are the so-called “flood tourists”. This refers to people who come to the threatened areas to see the scale of the disaster with their own eyes. On the one hand, they make it difficult to carry out security work, on the other hand, they often pose a threat to themselves and the rescuers. An example was the event that took place on Friday evening in Tahitótfalu. There, two such tourists decided to take a boat ride on the flooded Danube. When the boat capsized, one of them managed to swim to the shore, while the other got stuck on a tree by the river, from where firefighters had to evacuate him. There is also no shortage of people who decide to swim in the swollen river in the center of Budapest.
Danube in Budapest (21.09.2024)PAP/EPA/Zoltan Mathew
Main image source: PAP/EPA/Zoltan Mathew