The Minister of the Environment says that the storm in the Capital “will not remain an isolated event”: “It is not about if it will happen again, but when and how bad it will be”
Mircea Fechet, Minister of the Environment. Photo: Inquam Photos / Malina Norocea
The interim Minister of the Environment, Mircea Fechet, spoke about the problems caused by the storm on Monday in Bucharest, where “the sewers gave up, the traffic was blocked, and the people were forced to abandon their cars, because the torrential rain turned the streets into rivers.”
“The weather at Extreme pulled us again today, this time in Bucharest-Ilfov. Climate changes needed less than an hour to show us that they are here and we are preparing in advance, or we count the damages after each black cloud,” said Mircea Fechet, on Monday, in a Facebook post.
The minister says that when the storm started it was “in the youth area, where the water passed by the sidewalk.”
“Today's episode in the Capital is from the series of historical phenomena, one many years, with a rainfall of 50 l/sqm at the Filaret station in 60 minutes and 42 l/sqm at the Băneasa station in 30 minutes. The sewers gave up, the traffic was blocked, and the people were forced to abandon their cars, because the rain, in the area. The water was passing by the sidewalk ”, added Mircea Fechet.
He believes that today's storm in the Capital “is just another alarm signal in an increasing string of frequent meteorological extremes.”
“What happened today will not remain an isolated weather event. It is just another alarm signal in an increasing string of frequent meteorological extremes, which warn us that our cities are not prepared. The old infrastructure, the lack of sufficient green spaces, the urban planning not adapted to the climatic realities-all of us.
Fechet is of the opinion that adaptation to climatic changes should be treated “as a national priority”.
“Either we invest smart in climatic resilience, in green solutions and education, or we will continue to do the inventory of damages. It is no longer about if it will happen again, but when and how bad it will be next time. In Galați, last year, a stream that you passed to the step has flooded dozens of households. The climate can put us in the face of historical records.
A balance sheet published by the Emergency Department shows that in the Bucharest-Ilfov area, on Monday, until 20:00, over 800 requests were registered by calling the unique emergency number 112. The damages produced by the storm are significant.
