Due to severe floods in Slovakia and the rest of Europe, the Danube river has been rising drastically. On Wednesday evening it had exceeded 10 meters in height and at noon on Thursday, in the centre of Bratislava, it was 1,029 centimetres high. The river is predicted to reach its peak on Thursday evening. There is unconfirmed information of the flood claiming its first life in Slovakia near the Gabčíkovo dam complex. Bratislava has until now been protected from water reaching further inland by removable anti-flood protection barriers which have been put up mainly in the centre of the city and in the borough of Devin.
However, the situation on the river has now called for more evacuations. In the early hours of Thursday morning approximately 10 households were evacuated from the Devin borough. In Bratislava, the lower part of the Botanical Garden of Comenius University is under water and people in the lower streets of the borough Devinska Nova Ves are starting to place sandbags in front of their houses to protect them from the river Morava as overnight water has reached the first house at the end of this borough. Three transformer stations in Bratislava have been switched off due to the flood situation thus cutting off almost 300 people from electricity.
On Wednesday more firemen were called to help with rescue and protection works. “In the course of the last 24 hours more than 300 firemen have been deployed on works connected with floods in Slovakia” stated their spokesperson. Watching the Danube rise has become quite an attraction for people in the capital. Crowds of people would come to the SNP Bridge and the Old bridge to look at the river and the areas it has flooded. As of Wednesday evening however, due to undisciplined individuals and fights on the Old bridge, it is closed.
There are 6 boats on the Danube moored in the centre of Bratislava and as authorities say they are not in any danger for now. Companies in Slovakia are starting to calculate the first losses incurred by the floods, causing property damage and depriving firms of their profits. “At the moment, we are counting on direct property damage of half a million euro,” stated spokesman for Slovenska Plavba a Pristavy for the HN business daily.
The mayor of Bratislava Milan Ftáčnik is confident Bratislava will manage the peak of the Danube without difficulties. Prime Minister Robert Fico said that the Bratislava borough of Devin, where the Danube meets the Morava River, and which has been hit most severely by the flood so far, is ready for a 'one-hundred year flood'. In the centre of Bratislava he claims they are ready to handle a 'thousand-year flood'. PM Fico as well as police, army and fire services deployed here are confident that no surprising circumstances will occur and that they will be able to manage the situation.
