The 1970 floods in Romania,brought on by river swelling caused by torrential rains,high winds and a heat wave that melted snow in the Carpathian Mountains,[1] were the worst in modern Romanian history in loss of life,and caused the most damage up to the 2006 floods:at least $500 million;[2] perhaps over $1 billion.[3][4]
Nicolae Ceaușescu (at left,wearing a cap) riding through Satu Mare two days after it was devastated by floods.
The floods began around May 12 and lasted into mid-June. 209 people were killed,41,000 houses were damaged or totally destroyed (leaving at least 265,000 homeless),[3] over a million arable acres were inundated,over 100,000 sheep,pigs,cows and chickens (including over 35,000 head of cattle)[1] drowned,146 factories were idled at least temporarily,and over 250 miles (400km) of highway required repair.[5] At least 240,000 people were evacuated,some repeatedly.[1] 37 of Romania's then 39 counties were severely damaged,with 230 towns and villages hit in just the first twelve days,[6] including Sighișoara and Mediaș,the women and children of which were evacuated to centres in hill villages while the men salvaged possessions.[3] Airports,including those at Sibiu and Satu Mare,were flooded and closed. Railway systems were damaged,and landslides blocked roads and carried away telegraph lines.[6]
Broadly speaking,floodwaters moved from the northern and central regions toward the Danube lowlands in the south and east.[6] The Prahova,[6]Târnava,Olt (threatening Râmnicu Vâlcea and Slatina)[3] and Tisza[7] rivers were among those affected,as well as the Danube (which rose up to 6½ft above normal spring high-water levels,flooding docks and port installations in Turnu Severin),[8]Prut and Siret.[6] As crests rolled onward,downstream localities knew to fear the worst:for instance,Galați and Brăila knew by June 3 that floods from three weeks earlier would reach them on June 11,the question being if their dikes would hold. The neighbouring Soviet Union and Bulgaria were not nearly as threatened,as the Prut and Danube banks are steep and high on their shores.[1] The floods also came in phases:for instance,the waters were just beginning to recede when on May 23–24 renewed heavy rain and snowfalls raised their level again.[9]
Significant resources were mobilised to fight the waters and their effects. Medical teams toured most areas of the country warning people not to drink polluted water (many drinking water installations were destroyed) and inoculating all citizens aged 2 to 55 against typhoid fever.[3][6] Thousands of soldiers and civilians worked around the clock to build miles of new dikes and reinforce old ones.[1]
Political ramifications and international response
The floods had political ramifications as well. General Secretary Nicolae Ceaușescu took personal direction of some emergency measures in the Brăila and Galați areas,particularly sensitive because their heavy industry and grain shipping centres are near the Danube,Prut and Siret,all three of which were swollen and which merge four miles (6km) upstream from Galați. On May 22,wearing a black turtleneck sweater,workman's cloth cap and farmer's jacket,Ceaușescu and high Romanian Communist Party leaders spent hours superintending the completion of a five-mile (8km)-long earth and timber dike at Brăila.[6] In foreign policy,the floods offered him an opportunity to continue Romania's independent foreign policy,which sought to keep its distance from the Soviet Union. While at the height of the floods,he made a sudden trip to Moscow,followed a week later by Prime Minister Ion Gheorghe Maurer,this worried Romanians and Ceaușescu then toured the country,saying over and over in speeches to flood victims that his policy remained unchanged—national independence and sovereignty,noninterference in the internal affairs of other states,equality between governments and between Communist parties,and the right of each party to shape its own policies.[10]
The provision of foreign aid also reflected this independent course. The single largest relief payment,the equivalent of $400,000,came from the People's Republic of China,then embroiled in the Sino-Soviet split. The first relief plane came from Israel;Romania was the only Eastern Bloc country to have relations with Israel at the time. Aid from the United States and the Netherlands soon followed,but a week passed before the USSR sent a message and an offer of aid. Moreover,Western companies offered to repair or replace damaged industrial equipment they had furnished:[10] the Galați iron and steel plant (Romania's largest) was built with Western expertise and equipment against Soviet opposition.[1] Over a dozen countries,including France and Yugoslavia,gave aid.[6]British aid organisations promised 50 tons of food,children's clothing and medicine,while West Germany sent a number of mobile water-purification units. A special fund was set up in Bucharest to assist flood victims;money poured in from factory groups throughout Romania. In one Bucharest institute,100 donors a day gave blood,while scores of foreign diplomats gave clothing and household items.[3]
Aftermath
Reflecting a drive for development and modernisation,the regime embarked upon a national land-improvement programme following the floods,covering drainage,irrigation,soil erosion,navigation,power,research and training in a comprehensive approach that departed from mere reliance upon control structures. Not only did Romania cope with the floods;it brought in specifically designed alleviative and preventive measures.[2] The floods were mentioned in at least one literary work:Marin Sorescu's 1976 play Matca ("The Matrix"). During the rains,a woman gives birth to her child while her father is dying in an adjacent room. As the waters close in on her,her sole thought is to raise the baby above her head in an effort to save it.[11]
The main goal of building the Stânca-Costești Dam,completed in 1978,was to protect villages down the Prut river from floods.[12][13]
A memorial cross to the victims,raised in Militari,Bucharest,soon after the floods.
With an area of 238,397 km2 (92,046 sq mi), Romania is the twelfth-largest country in Europe. Located in Central and Eastern Europe also being another Balkan nation country. It's bordered on the Black Sea, the country is halfway between the equator and the North Pole and equidistant from the westernmost part of Europe—the Atlantic Coast—and the most easterly—the Ural Mountains. Romania has 3,195 kilometres (1,985 mi) of border. Republic of Moldova and Ukraine lies to the east, Bulgaria lies to the south, and Serbia and Hungary to the west. In the southeast, 245 kilometres (152 mi) of sea coastline provide an important outlet to the Black Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
Galați is the capital city of Galați County in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in eastern Romania. Galați is a port town on the Danube River. According to the 2021 census it is the 8th most populous city in Romania. Galați is an economic centre based around the port of Galați, the naval shipyard, and the largest steel factory in Romania, Galați steel works.
Botoșani County is a county (județ) of Romania, in Western Moldavia, with the capital town at Botoșani.
Galați is a county (județ) of Romania, in Moldavia region, with the capital city at Galați, between 45°25'N and 46°10'N latitude, 27°20'E and 28°10'E longitude. It borders the counties of Vaslui, Vrancea, Brăila, Tulcea. To the east it borders the Republic of Moldova, the border crossing points being Galați-Giurgiulești and Oancea-Cahul (road). It was established in 1968, through the territorial reorganization of the former Galați Region, which included a territory similar to that of the current Brăila and Galați counties, plus the northern part of Tulcea county.
Brăila is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of Brăila County. The Sud-Est Regional Development Agency is located in Brăila.
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej was a Romanian communist politician and electrician. He was the first Communist leader of Romania from 1947 to 1965, serving as first secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1944 to 1954 and from 1955 to 1965, and as the first Communist Prime Minister of Romania from 1952 to 1955.
The Siret or Sireth is a river that rises from the Carpathians in the Northern Bukovina region of Ukraine, and flows southward into Romania before it joins the Danube. It is 647 km (402 mi) long, of which 559 km (347 mi) in Romania, and its basin area is 44,811 km2 (17,302 sq mi), of which 42,890 km2 (16,560 sq mi) in Romania. Its average discharge is 250 m3/s (8,800 cu ft/s). In ancient times, it was named Hierasus.
Anghel Saligny was a Romanian engineer, most famous for designing the Fetești-Cernavodă railway bridge (1895) over the Danube, the longest bridge in Europe at that time. He also designed the storage facilities in Constanța seaport, one of the earliest examples of reinforced concrete architecture in Europe.
The Buzău is a river in eastern Romania, tributary of the river Siret. Its total length is 302 km, and its drainage basin area is 5,264 km2. Its source is in the south-eastern Carpathian Mountains, east of Brașov. The Buzău flows through the Romanian counties Brașov, Covasna, Buzău and Brăila. It flows into the Siret in Voinești, close to its confluence with the Danube, west of Galați.
From February to April 2006 many rivers across Europe, especially the Elbe and Danube, swelled due to heavy rain and melting snow and rose to record levels. These are the longest rivers in Central Europe.
Romania's landscape is almost evenly divided among mountains, hills, and plains. These varied relief forms spread rather symmetrically from the Carpathian Mountains, which reach elevations of more than 2,400 metres, to the Danube Delta, which is just a few metres above sea level.
Moldova and Romania have experienced an exceptional relationship since Moldova's independence in 1991. Pan-Romanianism has been a consistent part of Moldovan politics, and was adopted in the Popular Front of Moldova's platform in 1992. Most of Moldova was part of Romania during the Interwar period. The official language of Moldova is Romanian. The peoples of the two countries share common traditions and folklore, including a common name for the monetary unit – the leu. Early signs that Romania and Moldova might unite after both countries achieved emancipation from Soviet rule quickly faded after the War of Transnistria. However, a growing unionist sentiment emerged especially in the second decade of the 21st century. While Romania remains interested in Moldovan affairs and its progress towards European integration, a majority of Moldova's population is currently against unification with Romania.
The Bridge of Flowers was a massive demonstration that took place on Sunday, 6 May 1990 along the Prut River separating Romania and the Moldavian SSR.
The Moldavian Plateau is a geographic area of the historical region of Moldavia, spanning nowadays the east and northeast of Romania, most of Moldova, and most of the Chernivtsi Oblast of Ukraine.
The Stânca–Costești Dam is a dam on the Prut River and a checkpoint between Moldova and Romania. The dam is located between Costești (Moldova) and Stânca (Romania).
The 2010 Romanian floods were the result of an extreme weather event that struck Romania in late June 2010. Currently, at least 21 people died. The north-east of the country, especially Suceava County was most affected. Also affected was the Chernivtsi Oblast in neighbouring Ukraine.
The Prut is a 953 km (592 mi) long river in Eastern Europe. It is a left tributary of the Danube. In part of its course it forms Romania's border with Moldova and Ukraine.
The Galați steel works, formally Liberty Galați, is a steel mill in Galați, Romania, the country's largest.
The Battle of Galați was a military engagement between the formerly allied Romanian and Russian troops at the end of World War I, as the former sought to prevent the latter from retreating from the armistice line along with their equipment.
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