Highest alert along Romanian riverbank of Danube

Romanian authorities expect the Danube river to reach its highest flow level on Tuesday, with forecasts speaking of 13,900 cubic meters per second, more than the record reached in 1970.

In the county of Mehedinti, in south-west Romania, the river has already exceeded the danger mark of 80 centimeters, flooding several fish farms. In the east of the country, where the river flows into the Black Sea, authorities of the Tulcea district managed Tuesday morning to mend a breach in the Isaccea dam that broke on Monday.

The Bechet port in the southern county of Dolj was flooded, putting a halt to international barge traffic across the Danube to the Bulgarian port of Oreahovo. And in the counties of Calarasi and Ialomita, also in the south, people strengthened the riverbanks and local dams with sandbags to prevent flooding.

Meteorologists have warned that starting today it would pour across the country and the rain would not stop before April 13. That has prompted supplementary flood warnings in counties along the Danube but also along other rivers including Jiu and Olt.