Moldovan cabinet increases measures of prevention. management of floods

Chisinau, 10 May /MOLDPRES/ - Moldova will be able to easier prevent and manage floods. The cabinet today approved a concept on the reform of the national system of management, prevention and reducing the consequences of floods, which aligns the national legislation with the EU directives. The document contains radiography of the situation in the sector and sets a string of measures for the protection of residents and settlements against the negative effects of the floods, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.     

Among the actions included in the plan, there are: working out of maps of floods risks, plans of flood risks management in the basins of the Dniester and Prut rivers, creating a national system of monitoring and hydrological forecasts, as well as implementing automated systems of warning in the case of breaking of dams of the hydro-technical knots Costesti-Stanca, Dubasari and of the dam of the reservoir Vatra. 

At the same time, the protection dams on the Dniester and Prut rivers, as well as on the small rivers will be rehabilitated. In Moldova, there are about 60 networks of protection dams with a total length of more than 1,000 km, which protect over 95,000 hectares of land and 93 settlements. The dams of the reservoirs on the rivers Dniester and Prut rivers will be repaired too.   

Other measures regard the elaboration of a medium-term national strategy of floods risk management and adjusting the rules of exploitation of the hydro-technical knots on the Dniester and Prut rivers. Also, to cover possible damages, decision-makers will promote the compulsory insurances of buildings, farmlands and communication ways placed in risk zones.   

The degree of Moldova’s exposition to floods is of 40 per cent and up to 80 per cent in some regions. As many as 659 settlements with more than 100,000 residents are situated in flood risk zones. The last floods with significant negative effects occurred in 2008 and 2010.