Small villages struggle in flood stricken Slovakia
This week's sunshine and no rain has come as a godsend to many Slovaks. Last week's heavy rainfall caused the level of local rivers and lakes to rise, and flood more than 80 percent of the 76 villages in the Eastern part of Slovakia.
Inhabitants of some Eastern Slovak towns have not yet recovered from floods at the beginning of July, and now they are facing the same thing again. Heavy rain fell for more than 11 hours last Monday, leaving several villages cut off by road, destroying houses, garages, and local harvests.
Kapusany, is a village in the Presov district which is one of the worst affected, being threatened by flood waters from three local rivers. Ladislav Kokoska, mayor of the village, declared a flood emergency last Tuesday.
"The water flooded gardens, cellars, houses, garages as well as the industrial part of the village ... just like last year. Approximately 35 houses were flooded. One day and one night of rain, 40 mm of rain water caused so much damage that the situation is comparable to that of last year, when we had four days of constant rain."
This rain in 2004 caused the village damage estimated at approximately 10 million Slovak crowns. Interestingly enough, the floods came at almost exactly the same time as last year.
Kapusany will need millions for restoring homes, as well as industrial plants based in the village. Many millions of Slovak crowns are being put into repairing the damage. But wouldn't it be more sensible and cheaper to prevent floods from occurring at all? I asked Norbert Halmo from the Environment Ministry's department for river courses and river basins administration
"We ought to introduce flood protection measures but we don't have enough money for the realisation of the flood protection programme, which was approved by the government in 2001."
It was officially estimated this year that around 20 billion Slovak crowns will be needed for the flood prevention program. However although this figure has been approved, the money has not been forthcoming, because of a lack of finances. Norbert Halmo from the Environment Ministry continues
"Flood protection of three main areas affected by the floods, from the point of view of the number of inhabitants, is the priority of the government. We are now trying to get some money from European funds to implement the flood protection programme in these regions."
However that is only to three key regions in the whole of Slovakia. Subsidies for smaller projects, flood protection in smaller villages, are very hard to get. So, their protection seems to be entirely in the hands of the villages themselves. Kapusany mayor Ladislav Kokoska reacts:
"We can try to build dams or other water barriers. However, the situation has to be solved in a complex manner by the government. And certainly money has to be put aside for this."
Floods are currently not only the problem of Slovakia but many European countries are now struggling with this natural disaster on an even greater scale. Nortbert Halmo from the Environment Ministry compares the situation with neighbouring countries:
"Flood protection in Slovakia is somewhere between the Czech Republic and Hungary. We are very good at it but we are still lacking the money."
The biggest problem with this year's floods is the fact that the affected areas have not had time to recover fully from damage caused by the previous floods, and thus were left more vulnerable this year. And although the current situation indicates that this year's damage is less serious than last year, many fear there could be more to come.
Currently the Danube, which passes through the capital Bratislava, is reported to be rising. How the situation will develop depends mainly on the weather. And in the face of natural forces we can do nothing but strive for accurate forecasts.