2012 will see more serious floods than 2010, engineer

This year we will witness the most serious wave of floods in the last few years. The geographic position of Moldova favors this calamity that takes place once in two years, senior engineer of the Bender fluvial port and marine flotilla expert Ion Friptu has told Info-Prim Neo. ”The floods of 2008 were a kind of warning, but no appropriate measures were taken. After the floods of 2010, the government did nothing again. In 2012 we will have more serious floods. Given the heavy snowfalls in Europe, the people should start preparing for the calamity immediately after the thaw,” said Ion Friptu. He also said that the Nistru and Prut Rivers are no longer cleaned and this is also a cause for floods. “Earlier, the rivers were cleaned by extracting sand and clay. This helped maintain a deep riverbed and the rivers did not flood. Now they extract only a small quantity of sand and this is not enough,” said Ion Friptu, adding the largest floods are expected in the south. According to the expert, in order to reduce the consequences of floods, the authorities should regularly organize expeditions on the Nistru and Prut to measure the depth of the rivers in all the regions and reinforce the banks in the most dangerous places. It was wrong to put only sacks of sand during the floods of 2010. There should be built levees of mud, sand and clay. The floods of 2010 affected 13,000 people from 85 settlements. 3 100 persons were evacuated – 2 300 from Hincesti district and 800 from Cantemir district. Hounds of hectares of crops, orchards and meadows, seven levees and about 200 kilometers of road were damaged.