– We survived. There were difficult moments, there were moments of terror, but fortunately not much bad happened – said the president of Świdnica (Lower Silesian Voivodeship) Beata Moskal-Słaniewska in “Tak jest”. As she said, during the preparations there was a lack of regular delivery of bags. – All procedures need to be verified, because such a situation may repeat itself – assessed the guest of TVN24.
The mayor of Świdnica, Beata Moskal-Słaniewska, spoke in the program “Tak jest” on TVN24 about the problems the city had to deal with during the flood threat. – We survived. There were difficult moments, there were moments of terror, but fortunately not much bad happened. We defended ourselves as a city and today we have already started a major clean-up – said Moskal-Słaniewska.
Asked how she assessed cooperation with the government, the president admitted that “when the flood situation ends, (…) we will have to sit down and examine our conscience, what needs to be improved, what needs to be changed”. – There was definitely a lack of information flow. We had to obtain some information ourselves – she said. She added that the authorities of Świdnica received too little information from the crisis management team.
– What was sorely lacking – and it could have been done with a few decisions – was the regrouping of the Territorial Defense Forces and the State Fire Service to the areas where it was the worst, the most dangerous. Such support would definitely be needed, because the communes around Świdnica needed the support of the State Fire Service units – she said.
“I was left with a twelve-person volunteer fire department team”
Moskal-Słaniewska believes that during the threat “there was no one who was so professional, pragmatic, would be in every critical place and direct the action there”. – I was left (in Świdnica – ed.) with a twelve-person team of the Volunteer Fire Department, the head of crisis management, the commander of the Municipal Guard, several firefighters (professional – ed.), my deputy and several officials – she admitted to the guest “Tak jest”.
Flooding in the Świdnik districtDistrict Headquarters of the State Fire Service in Świdnica
She also appreciated the enormous involvement of the residents.
– What really bothered us, what the residents complained about the most, was the lack of regular delivery of bags. We had secured a batch of several thousand bags. Later it turned out that this wave was bigger, that we had bigger needs. Waiting for the next batch took several hours. The residents were impatient, and so were we. There was not much we could do. Each batch that arrived was immediately distributed. We brought sand from a sandpit a dozen or so kilometres away – she said.
According to the president, “all procedures need to be verified because such a situation may happen again.”
Main image source: District Headquarters of the State Fire Service in Świdnica