From February to April 2006 many rivers across Europe, especially the

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

and

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

, swelled due to heavy rain and melting snow and rose to record levels. These are the longest rivers in

Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

Southeastern Europe

High

levels caused significant flooding in parts of

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, with damage to property and infrastructure in localities near the shores of the river. The effects of high water across

Southeastern Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe is a geographical sub-region of Europe, consisting primarily of the region of the Balkans, as well as adjacent regions and Archipelago, archipelagos. There are overlapping and conflicting definitions of t ...

were blamed on the poor

levee A levee ( or ), dike (American English), dyke (British English; see American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, spelling differences), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is an elevated ridge, natural ...

systems in the affected countries.

Bulgaria

Vidin Vidin (, ) is a port city on the southern bank of the Danube in north-western Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Romania and Serbia, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as of the Metropolitan of Vidin (since ...

an industrial district was flooded and over 300 people were evacuated to a tent city about 20 kilometers from the town. In

Lom, Bulgaria Lom ( ) is a List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, town in northwestern Bulgaria, part of Montana Province, situated on the right bank of the Danube, close to the estuary of the Lom (river), Lom River. It is the administrative centre of the epony ...

25 houses, a hotel, the port (which is the second biggest Bulgarian port on the River Danube), and the Danube Park were flooded. Boruna quarter in the north-western part of the city has declared a state of emergency. Of the 30,000 people who live in Lom, 6,000 people are in danger due to the flooding. The two schools are prepared to accommodate any people if found necessary. A few blocks along the water's edge in the city of Nikopol were flooded. 60 people were evacuated and 57 buildings have been flooded so far as well as the main road from Nikopol west towards

Pleven Pleven ( ) is the seventh most populous city in Bulgaria. Located in the northern part of the country, it is the administrative centre of Pleven Province, as well as of the subordinate Pleven municipality. It is the biggest economic center in ...

. In

Rousse Ruse (also transliterated as Rousse, Russe; ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, fifth-largest city in Bulgaria. Ruse is in the northeastern part of the country, on the right bank of the Danube, opposite the Romanian city of Giurgiu, ...

the Danube reached 9 meters, beating the previous record at 8,88 from 1970. In total at least 400 buildings on Bulgaria's northern border have been flooded and several have been completely destroyed.

Romania

The 2006 European floods were one of the most devastating natural disaster from the

History of Romania The Romanian state was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The new state, officially named Romania since 1866, gained independence ...

. Although there were no human victims, the estimated damage is thought to surpass the floods of 1970. By April 16 over 848 houses were reportedly flooded, with 221 destroyed.FACTBOX-Impact of floods in southeast Europe
Reuters AlertNet The height of the Danube at the beginning of the flood was still below the record level registered in 1895.Balkans battle rising floodwaters
BBC News Romanian officials ordered the controlled flooding of thousands of hectares of unused agricultural spaces to prevent further damage in cities across Romania. On April 16, in the localities of Rast and Negoi,

Dolj County Dolj County (; originally meant ''Dol(no)-Jiu River, Jiu'', "lower Jiu", as opposed to ''Gorj'' (''upper Jiu'')) is a county (județ) of Romania on the border with Bulgaria, in Oltenia, with the capital city at Craiova. Demographics In 2011, ...

, more than 800 residents were evacuated, as a dam collapsed due to the rising waters of the Danube. Hundreds of houses were flooded and more than 100 of them collapsed. By April 22, the number of people evacuated from the locality reached 4,000.Relief in sight for the Balkans
Reuters, 22 April 2006 In the port city of

Călărași Călărași (), the capital of Călărași County in the Muntenia region, is situated in south-east Romania, on the banks of the Danube's Borcea branch, at about from the Bulgarian border and from Bucharest. It is one of six Romanian county se ...

, a recently opened hotel was flooded on Monday, April 17, causing significant damage to the building and leading to the evacuation of tens of tourists. By this date, the floods had swamped of land, of roads and destroyed 20 bridges, while also causing agricultural damage amounting to 4.6 million lei (US$1.5 million). Additionally, five of Romania's nine Danube ports were closed during the flooding period. However, Romanian authorities said on April 22 that the worst of the flooding had passed. Elena Anghel, hydrologist at Romania's National Hydrology Institute stated that, "The forecasts are optimistic. The river will probably remain stable for another two days and then start to fall." However, by April 28, after several weeks of pressure, key levées along the Danube began collapsing in the counties of Dolj,

Constanța Constanța (, , ) is a city in the Dobruja Historical regions of Romania, historical region of Romania. A port city, it is the capital of Constanța County and the country's Cities in Romania, fourth largest city and principal port on the Black ...

Tulcea Tulcea (; also known by #Names, alternative names) is a city in Northern Dobruja, Romania. It is the administrative center of Tulcea County, and had a population of 65,624 . One village, Tudor Vladimirescu, is administered by the city. It is one ...

and

Galați Galați ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names) is the capital city of Galați County in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in eastern Romania. Galați is a port town on the river Danube. and the sixth-larges ...

. The authorities carried out further evacuations in these regions, the number of evacuated people rising to 16,000. By this date, over 300 houses were completely destroyed with more than 150 villages and towns being directly affected by the floods.

Serbia

On April 16, 2006, a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...

was declared in 10 regions of Serbia. The areas around Serbia's second largest city

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; #Name, see below for other names) is the List of cities in Serbia, second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pannoni ...

were particularly vulnerable.Serbia braced for record floods
BBC News A dozen cities were damaged and hundreds of people were evacuated. Near Veliko Gradište, the Danube reached heights as high as 9.65 meters (over 30 ft). Many people left the regions because water could not be purified.

Other countries

Floods were also reported in the

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

, where several villages were flooded in North Macedonia's Pelagonija Valley.

Germany and Czech Republic

The

Elbe River The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Germany and flo ...

also rose 13 centimeters higher than in 2002 in some areas, creating 150-year-record-highs. In

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, the medieval town of

Hitzacker Hitzacker is a town in the Lüchow-Dannenberg district of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Elbe, approx. 8 km north of Dannenberg, and 45 km east of Lüneburg. The 2007 population of Hitzacker was 4,982, and its po ...

had water levels of 7.63 meters, destroying many buildings and causing considerable damage to other private property. Also affected was the town of

Lauenburg Lauenburg (), or Lauenburg an der Elbe (; ), is a town in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the northern bank of the river Elbe, east of Hamburg. It is overall the southernmost town of Schleswig-Holstein and belongs to ...

. The German federal state of

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

and the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

were not as affected, because in the four years after the record floodings of 2002, the two partners built a stronger levee system along the Elbe. On April 17, all states of emergencies in all counties of the German federal states of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...

and

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

were rescinded.

Hungary

The Danube river was at its peak 865 cm (28 ft 4 in) high in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, higher than the previous record of 848 cm in 2002. During the floods, approximately 11,000 buildings were in danger of flood damage, 32,000 people were threatened by the water, and 1.72 square kilometres (475 acres) of land were actually under water. Officials also placed most of the area near the Danube under a Level 3 Alert (on a 3-level scale). The flood was so severe that it threatened to spill into the underground in Budapest, through the Batthyány tér station — this, however, did not occur. The underground train stations Batthyány tér and Margit híd ( HÉV) were closed out of precaution. The timing of the flood, incidentally, coincided with the Hungarian general elections.

Causes

Many dikes and levees breached because of a poor construction by local and national officials and of an unusual long and hard winter in Central Europe. The snowfall lasted well into April and many areas were frozen, so frost emerged, soaking the earth full of water.

Humanitarian aid

The

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

sent humanitarian aid in the form of blankets and mattresses to affected areas.

References

External links

Balkans in race to stem flooding

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

Massive German floods monitored from space

Flood claim first victim in Austria

32,000 people in danger of floods
{{DEFAULTSORT:2006 European Floods 2000s floods in Europe 2006 floods

Floods A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

Floods in Bulgaria Floods in Romania Floods in Serbia