Buiucani, Center and Botanica districts of the capital city were severely affected by the torrential rain and the strong winds of the night of June 12. The intense gusts uprooted many trees, causing considerable damage to cars, fences and roofs. All the responsible services reacted promptly, intervening at over 300 addresses to deal with the consequences of the weather in a manual or mechanized way. Pedestrian alleys, sidewalks and streets on which public transport runs were cleared as a priority.
Immediate response
Deputy mayor of Chisinau Ilie Ceban in the podcast Chisinau LIVE said that the crisis cell was mobilized. Each sector was territorially divided into micro-quarters to which those responsible for inspection and monitoring were assigned. The areas were prioritized according to the degree of urgency and measures were taken mainly where there was a danger to public health. Throughout the night and until the morning, the municipal services made efforts to free the city from the trees and branches knocked down by the wind. The teams in the districts that were not affected provided aid to the other districts, thus accelerating the process of alleviating the damage caused by the weather.
The workers who intervened during the night took away the branches broken by the wind, which fell on green spaces, on sidewalks or streets. Around 60 trees were uprooted and many of these fell on constructions and vehicles. The broken branches that weren’t downed by the wind, but could have fallen were also removed. The intervention teams, together with the General Division of Education, Youth and Sports, mobilized intensively to clean the access roads to educational institutions so that the program of the national secondary school and high school graduation exams was not disrupted.
The rainy weather prevented the effort to gather the leaves. As a priority, there were cleaned the drainage channels to prevent flooding in those areas. The services of the municipal enterprise “Lumteh” were mobilized to restore the supply of electricity where it was interrupted.
Priority actions
Following concerns expressed by residents about the flooding of streets and underground passageways following the heavy rainfall, Ilie Ceban explained that the number of manholes is sufficient, but the problem lies in the capacity to drain rainwater. A part of the water accumulated in the city flows into the Byk River. As long as the Byk River can cope with the volume of water, there are no problems. However, when the volume of water is larger, the river overflows its banks, flooding streets.
According to Ilie Ceban, the felling of dry trees is the main objective at present. The trees in each district need to be inspected. It is a very expensive exercise and the number of specialists is limited. Each tree must be examined from phytosanitary viewpoint and this requires additional time and resources.
Meteorologists extended the yellow warning of atmospheric instability for Friday, June 14. The local authorities called on the residents and guests of the capital city to show a responsible attitude and maximum prudence. To report problematic situations due to rain, the people are urged to call the Municipal Central Dispatcher’s Office on the following telephone numbers: (022) 22-22-67, (022) 22-26-04 or to call the single emergency number 112. Once the information is received by the Municipal Central Dispatcher’s Office, even if the case does not fall within the competence of the City Hall, it is directed to those in charge who deal with it.
Milena Macarciuc, IPN