Friday's torrential rains wreaked havoc in several areas of the country, causing floods, blocked traffic, trees blown down by the wind and dozens of fire brigade interventions. The most affected were the counties of Iasi, Vaslui and Capitala, where the streets turned into rivers after just a few minutes of heavy rain.
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Bucharest floods PHOTO Facebook 5 jpg
In Iasi county, the orange flood code caused problems in several localities. In the municipality of Iaşi, the sewer system could not cope after only ten minutes of torrential rain, and the water overflowed onto the road, making traffic difficult both in the city center and in the peripheral districts.
Firefighters had dozens of interventions to evacuate water from flooded yards, homes and commercial spaces. A woman with mobility problems needed help to be evacuated from an area affected by the waters.
In the Holboca commune, approximately 20 yards were flooded, and the water level reached up to 25 centimeters. Ten other people from several municipalities requested help after the water entered their homes.
According to ISU Iasi, interventions took place in the localities of Bosia, Mânzăteşti, Vlădiceni, Dancu, Miroslava and Vişoianu. In the Vişoianu residential complex, the water from the sewage overflow flooded four apartments in the basement.
Also, in the municipality of Iasi, floods were reported on Ferdinand I Boulevard, on Zimbrului Street, where a barber shop was affected, but also on Pompei Street, where the water entered a house.
Hydrologists issued Code Orange warnings on the rivers in the Vămăşoaia basin and Code Yellow on the tributaries of the Siret River, and the population in the affected areas received RO-Alert messages.
In Vaslui county, the storms were followed by the spectacular appearance of the phenomenon “roll cloud”, a cloud with the appearance of a huge wave that forms at the contact between cold air masses and warm and moist air masses.
There were also serious problems in Bucharest, which was under a yellow code for rain and storms. On Metalurgiei boulevard, cars and buses were moving with difficulty because of the accumulated water on the roadway, after the sewage system was overwhelmed by the large amount of precipitation.
In the southeast of the Capital, on Calea Văcăreşti, a tree fell on two cars, and in the Pantelimon district another tree fell on a pole and damaged the roof of a shop.
There were also flooded streets in the localities of Popeşti-Leordeni and Chiajna, where the residents claim that such problems frequently occur after the summer rains due to the undersized infrastructure.
“It rained for five minutes in Chiajna and I think we don't have sewage! You see, the mayor came out of the house? Is he on the streets?”, said the disgruntled locals.
The severe weather also created problems in the mountainous areas. The rescuers from Braşov have issued warnings for tourists going to the Făgăraş Mountains, where there is a high risk of flooding in Sâmbetei Valley, Viştea Mare Valley and Arpaşu Mare Valley.
The authorities recommend tourists to avoid traveling on forest roads and northern valleys, to use exclusively marked routes and to follow the weather before leaving for the mountain.
Meteorologists warn that the episode of severe weather is not over. A yellow wind code is in effect for central and southern Moldova, Dobrogea and eastern and northeastern Muntenia, where gusts can reach 65 km/h.
Although the weekend starts with rain and the risk of flooding, forecasters say that the weather will gradually warm up in the coming days, and temperatures could reach 29 degrees Celsius by the middle of next week.
