| inbluevt | Date: Friday, 2013/06/21, 9:11 PM | Message # 1 | DMCA |
|
|
Private
Group: Blocked
Messages: 1024
|
BUDAPEST, Jun 15 2013 (IPS) - Record floods in Central and Eastern Europe have highlighted some of the
challenges of climate change for the continent, as well as the floods’ potential to spur populist politics.
An extraordinarily long winter followed by weeks of intense rains has saturated soils and caused large rivers,
such as the Danube and the Elbe, to overflow. The floods have wreaked havoc in the region, killing 21 people and forcing the evacuation of several tens of thousands.
In Halle, Germany, 30,000 people were forced to leave their homes, after the Elbe reached its highest levels in 400 years. In Austria, mudslides brought about the closure of roads and train lines. The Polish
capital of Warsaw was partially flooded, and in the Czech Republic, 20,000 people were evacuated from 700 different localities.
Most of the flood victims – 10 out of 21 – are Czech, having been hit by heavy rains that at one point brought down hail stones of the size of ping-pong balls.
Czechs feared for the fate of their medieval capital Prague, as authorities mobilised heavy machinery to sustain one of the city’s oldest symbols, the Charles Bridge, dating from the 14th century.
Hospitals and even the city’s zoo were evacuated.
The Czech government has estimated the damage at 800 million Euros, promising to waive the income tax for companies affected by the catastrophe.None of this drama was apparent in the Hungarian capital Budapest, where the Danube rose to 8.9 metres, the highest water level ever recorded.
More
Message edited by inbluevt - Friday, 2013/06/21, 9:13 PM |
|
|
| |
Main 
