Video Raed Arafat explains the decisions made on the Red Rain code: “I sometimes had floods that killed people. Incompanent we would have been if I stayed and did nothing”
Raed Arafat, photo: Agerpres
The head of the Department for Emergency Situations (DSU), Raed Arafat, said on Wednesday that the authorities cannot overlook a red or orange code issued by the National Meteorological Agency and it is normal to issue warnings to the population and to take preventive measures.
“In the second in which the ANM has set these codes, we have some procedures, plans, ways of training and we are preparing for the impact that can occur. It is not obligatory to occur. We are preparing for the impact that can occur. This impact, if it is a red code or even an orange code, may be a very major one. We do not take seriously a red code or an orange code, issued by the experts from the National Meteorological Agency ”, explained Arafat, in a registration published by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
He mentioned that the closing of the schools was a preventive measure, and STS, only until 10:00, in Bucharest-Ilfov registered over 1,500 calls to 112 related to weather conditions.
“In Bucharest, trees fell, including over a traveling car, where, fortunately, nothing happened to the passengers. Here we can not apologize that nothing has happened. We can probably say that if the warnings were not given and people were going to the street without any problem, there is no one, Moving and we have injured or maybe dead.
According to him, the authorities had a duty to warn the population, but did not close people in the house, but only advised what to do.
“When we see all the comments and manipulations that begin to appear – and we have drawn attention to this, on social media there are manipulations and you do not know who is behind the accounts – an idea is taken and it is enhanced immediately. Maybe the one who wrote the first comment had a good intention when in writing. It was if I was sitting and doing nothing, ”said DSU chief.
He mentioned that, independently of ANM assessments, on Tuesday, an analysis from the European Civil Protection Coordination Center was received in which it was shown that Romania and Bulgaria have a great possibility of major impact due to weather conditions.
Red Code in Bucharest and five counties
Most of the country is under heavy rain warnings, whispers and snowy snowfall, at least until Wednesday night. Bucharest and five other counties were under the red code of extreme weather phenomena until 3 pm. Meteorologists decided to extend the code by three more hours for certain areas of Constanța county, where the biggest problems were recorded due to torrential rains.
