Flood PHOTO REPORT: Hungary underwater

The peaking arrived at the Danube Bend and authorities expect the water level will rise by an additional 0.5 metres in Budapest where all dams are ready to receive the flood. Here is our photo report about Hungary under the water brought by Cyclone Boris. Bad news is that such extremities will happen due to climate change and global warming.

Kisoroszi on the Northern tip of the Szentendre Island. Based on news outlets, one of the residents of the charming Hungarian town is 92 years old, but she did not abandon her house. She waits there for the end of the flood:

The lower embankments of Budapest underwater on Thursday:

Sandbags protecting the Batthány Square metro station. The metro does not stop there from today.

Photo: MTI

Budapest’s Margaret Island with the Margaret Bridge. Citizens no longer enter the Southern regions of the island, the Palatinus Bath has closed and even a mini zoo had to be evacuated due to the flood. The island is one of the weakest points of the flood protection system in Hungary.

Photo: MTI

UPDATE: Budapest Danube embankments occupied by the Danube: 

Esztergom with the basilica and the Mária Valéria Bridge connecting Hungary with Slovakia. The bridge has not been closed for traffic but another border crossing has.

The Római Beach in Budapest underwater:

Photo: MTI

The Duna Aréna and the Dagály Beach in Budapest:

Here is how the Danube will peak in Budapest:

The Danube flood is visible from space. Scroll down in THIS article for the a video.

Leitha at Hegyeshalom:

Photo: MTI

PM Orbán: Six more days to go

According to forecasts, heightened preparedness in flood defence will have to stay in place for six more days, until next Thursday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told a press conference. The prime minister on Friday praised protection efforts, saying that there were ample number of volunteers and coordination between state and municipal protection bodies had been seamless so far.

People also seemed “calmer” than during the 2013 floods, he said. “We can say this time: nothing is happening that we haven’t seen before, and there is no danger that we haven’t avoided at least once already.” While the situation is serious, “there is no need to rush”, Orbán said. If everyone stays in their place over the weekend, “everything will be fine”, he said. Orbán said he expected Hungarians to “come out strengthened” from the situation.

Orbán against the flood. Photo: MTI

Forecasts accurate so far, key to flood defence, says the prime minister

Forecasts of flood peaks have been accurate so far, and this is key to the success of defence efforts, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told a press conference on Friday. Regarding the River Leitha, surrounding areas were successfully protected throughout a ten-hour peak, and the situation is improving, he said. As regards the River Danube, reports on Friday morning show the flood peak in the area of Komarom, in the north-west. The Danube water recession is expected to be slow, he added.

On Thursday 614km of rivers were under defence, and now this has risen to 754km, with the most urgent level of defence readiness at 114km. Over the weekend, the task will be to maintain preparedness and “constant vigilance”, Orbán said after the meeting of the operative body for flood protection.

He called on lawmakers, volunteers and mayors to organise patrols to monitor the situation. “The hardest in times like these is to maintain vigilance when one feels the worst is behind one,” he said. While flood protection efforts have so far focused on the stretch of the Danube upstream from Budapest, work has now started in the south too, on Báta, Dunaszekcső and Baja, he said.

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