The Death Resort

The rain has hit the Constanta County with fury. The youth’s resort, Costinesti, has been aggravated the most seriously. Five people are dead, several disappeared, tens of houses are about to fall, and most of the granges are flooded. They describe the picture of a resort that was full of joy a few weeks ago.

In the Constanta County, the rain came with fury. Localities like Costinesti, Techirghiol, Tuzla, 23 August are flooded. The picture is similar to the one in Bacau in the summer. Unfortunately, like two months ago in Moldova, there are victims in Dobrogea as well. The symbol of the Costinesti resort, the obelisk, the meeting point of many generations of tourists, is no more. The waters swallowed it.

The situation is critical. The houses in many villages are about to fall. Five people are dead in Costinesti only, where most of the granges are flooded, and ten houses have been completely destroyed by the floods. The waters took a woman while she was walking on the sea front. The body was found in an area in which the water is three meters deep.

CHILDREN SAVED BY BOAT 23 children aged between 3 and 7 were stuck yesterday morning in a kindergarten in Costinesti, which was surrounded by 2-meter-deep water. They could have drowned in any moment, and they were agitated and scared. A few hours later, they were saved by the boats of the Frontier Police and of the Navy Operational Commandment. Now, they are in a safe area. The same boats had to come back to rescue several villagers that had taken refuge on the roofs of their houses. A helicopter of the MND (Ministry of National Defense), which managed to fly in spite of the bad weather and visibility, found them. Like in Timis and Bacau, many volunteers came with their own boats to help evacuating the people. It will be difficult at night, because the power went down in Costinesti and Schitu.

THE WATER DIDN’T GO AROUND THE SANATORIUM The centre of Techirghiol wasn’t kept out of the waters either. The Techirghiol Lake overran and a mixture of salty water and rainwater flooded the houses of the people. The famous sanatorium in Techirghiol was also flooded. Its renovation will take a long time and a lot of money.

NO MORE TRAFFIC At the south exit from Constanta, the county Police was forced to block the traffic, because the roads are flooded and the bridges are about to fall apart. In 23 august, for example, the bridge on DN 39 has been seriously damaged. Around the mentioned localities, the waters are three meters deep. The ambulances weren’t able to go into the village. There is no main road in the Tuzla village anymore. The force of the water tore the asphalt apart. The three-kilometer-long road that was connecting the main road and Costinesti was also torn apart, which leads to the isolation of the village.

BLEAK PREDICTIONS When we wrote this material, there still were heavy rains falling in the Constanta County. If water continues to fall, more buildings in the flooded localities might collapse. In the same time, we might see localities like 23 August, Pecineaga or Adamclisi (where the famous Tropaeum Traiani monument is in danger as well), which are completely under water, simply disappearing from the map. The number of the victims might increase because a lot of people are isolated and unable to communicate with the "exterior world". For now, there is no exact statistic for the disappeared people that might have been taken by the waters. The number of the victims has increased from hour to hour by now as the divers went to the underwater granges in the flooded localities.