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RP: Heavy Rainfall Leads to Widespread Flooding Along Lower Danube
Oradea, Rumania - Much of the nation has seen unusually heavy rainfall this spring, with many counties shattering previous records for Spring rain totals. The heavy rainfall coupled with already sodden ground has lead to the Danube river, the single largest drainage basin in the nation, reaching capacity across much of it's lower half. The Danube was already above average capacity heading into the Spring due to heavy winter storms in the north raising water levels. Since then, the most recent bout of heavy rainfall has led to the river reaching overcapacity, causing widescale flooding along the river's banks. Several major cities in the Metropole, including Bucuresti and Oradea suffered minor flooding, with further inundation being prevented by flood control measures at the Eselnita Dam and the Western Spillway. Downstream of Oradea, near Cluj, the Danube overtopped the levees near the village of Zaval inundating hundreds of miles of farmland and low-lying villages beneath upwards of 15 feet of water. Similarly, severe flooding in the Delta has resulted in thousands of miles of largely uninhabited land being inundated under 30 or so feet of water, however there is one exception; the city of Craiova sits amid the marsh of the Delta, and is the only major settlement in the region. The city, which was originally established on a single low-lying knoll in the Delta, encompasses a large swath of swampy land along the river's banks. Much of the city exists below sea and river level, as the marshy soil has subsided beneath the weight of the city. This subsidence prompted the expansion of the city's levee systems in the 1990's and again in the 2100's to the point where nowadays all of the city, and portions of the surrounding country side, are protected from seasonal flooding by a vast series of levees and pumps. Normally the city's extensive drainage works serve well to keep the county dry even during times of above average rainfall, but, under the intense pressure of this season's rainfall, the system has begun to fail. Several of the outer levees protecting settlements and industry outside of the main city have failed, resulting in these regions being entirely inundated under 15-20 feet of water. Following the failure of the outer levees, the works protecting Craiova's Vladimirescu and Mechitbayeva neighborhoods as well as the industrial portion alongside the river failed, releasing the force of the overcapacity river into the subsided neighborhoods. The flooding of the surrounding countryside resulted in the city being cutoff from the rest of the nation, becoming both literally and figuratively an island as severe flooding inundated roads and knocked out communication lines; meanwhile the flooding in the industrial district resulted in the city losing all power.

In response to the severe flooding in Craiova, which has trapped some 450,000 people within the city, the Federal Government and Danubia State Government began to organize a relief effort to help rescue citizens stuck in the flooded neighborhoods and to bring vital supplies into the city. However, no further relief efforts can practically be undertaken until flooding has subsided -- leaving the city stranded for what could be weeks.