Flooding in Hungary, Poland, Serbia etc. (Picture Gallery)

[sandbender]

Much of my country (Hungary) has been suffering from serious flooding of late, this sizable picture gallery provides some idea of what the past weeks have been like.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/european_flooding.html

 

[sam_acw]

The Vistula has flooded in Poland, especially in the south of the country.
Sadly, although there was a lot of rain in May and early June a huge amount of flooding was caused by bad drainage and a lack of any flood defences. We even had floods solely due to storms one night as the drainage and guttering in built up areas is so bad there's nowhere for the water to go.

 

[sandbender]

"...caused by bad drainage and a lack of any flood defences. We even had floods solely due to storms one night as the drainage and guttering in built up areas is so bad there's nowhere for the water to go..."

It is a similar story here, drainage ditches and culverts that have been in use for decades have not been properly maintained in recent years.

Add to that folks stealing emergency pumps, the theft of iron sluice gates (for the scrap value) and at least one case of a multinational supermarket chain blocking the drainage for a small town when they constructed a shopping center.

 

[nolightweight]

I was in some of the places mentioned in the pictures a couple of years ago; mostly Czestochowa.

I'm thinking about the people I know there now.

 

[sam_acw]

It is a similar story here, drainage ditches and culverts that have been in use for decades have not been properly maintained in recent years.

Add to that folks stealing emergency pumps, the theft of iron sluice gates (for the scrap value) and at least one case of a multinational supermarket chain blocking the drainage for a small town when they constructed a shopping center.

Poland isn't generally as wet as Britain and there is basically just one huge river down the country. There are very few drains on streets and almost zero guttering there either which turns the whole road into a river quickly. A couple of weeks back there were floods overnight when 2 simultaneous thunder storms hit and there was no-where for the water to go.

 

[dave53]

what a terrible tragedy how come this is the first time we have heard of this. oh i know football and american oil where are all the priorities gone regards dave

 

[nolightweight]

what a terrible tragedy how come this is the first time we have heard of this. oh i know football and american oil where are all the priorities gone regards dave

It has been on the BBC website since it started Dave but not that much mate. The small villages, hamlets and communities they have out there some people would have ended up losing a lot if not all of their housing and property let alone the loss of life. These places aren't easily accessable by the emergency services either. Even the major cities are affected and the main road/rail links. I had heard of the floods but didn't realise the damage caused until now.

sam_acw: If you would care to tell us more I for one would really appreciate it.

Many thanks. Neil.

 

[MartinK9]

My thoughts are with those who are there, and those here awaiting news.

 

[sam_acw]

Most of the flooded areas are coming back to normal now - it feels odd to have flooded areas when the temperature's been as high as 35 degrees recently.
It was in the news here on and off for 3 weeks but has been replaced by the presidential elections now.
Sadly, the South of the country has a history of flooding problems as the mountains in the South basically all drain into one big river.
As nolightweight mentioned, the smallest places will be hardest hit as there is little incentive for anyone to rebuild, they lack any political clout and I doubt many properties were well insured. You'd be surprised just how self reliant people in rural areas are here though, there's a lot less reliance on shops and a lot more space than in Britain.

 

[nolightweight]

Thanks for the update sam_acw.

 

[mayfly]

Amazing photos really bring it home. I particularly like the photo of the man and his dog on the balcony. Chris