President Andrej Kiska on Thursday visited villages in the High Tatra mountain range that were hit by flooding two weeks ago, TASR learnt on the same day. In addition to the Javorová Valley, where clean-up work is fully under way, the president visited Chateau Hohenlohe in Tatranská Javorina and met senior officials of the village of Ždiar and hoteliers. "We discussed the causes of the floods, but mainly how to prevent and prepare for them. We can all see that things are changing, we have much warmer weather, and rainfall can be very intense. I think that we must be prepared for unpredictable situations like this (just like we're able to prepare for snow), to prepare vehicles and monitor the situation," said Kiska.
Another issue discussed was protected areas and bark beetles. "It's prohibited to log wood there. These infested trees can't be moved, we can't interfere with nature, that's what we all understand, as it's a protected area. On the other hand, the fact that we're losing trees, that the trees are weak creates the preconditions for disasters like this to occur when such a large amount of water appears. There's been a discussion within our society for a long time as to what to do, how to find a compromise between nature protection and the destruction of trees by bark beetles," stressed Kiska.
Kiska also visited Chateau Hohenlohe in Tatranská Javorina, which is still cut off from central electricity and water supplies after the flooding. "We restored electricity thanks to a generator as of Saturday (July 21). We had no water till today; supplies of non-potable water were resumed yesterday (August 1) evening, while we'll have drinking water as soon as samples are taken. Concerning access to the chateau, we haven't cancelled this, as it's complicated to do so when people have already booked," said chateau manager Stanislava Micháleková.
