site.btaPM Denkov on Flood Response, Mitigation

The situation in the flood-hit Tsarevo Municipality (Southeastern Bulgaria, on the Black Sea coast) is going back to normal, Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said, addressing Parliament on Friday morning. Power and water supply has been reconnected everywhere in the disaster area. The wastewater treatment plant in Tsarevo is functioning. Tap water is still unfit for drinking, but bottled water is readily available.

The damaged infrastructure is already being repaired, with a temporary bridge at Tsarevo under construction.
The two dams that are located in immediate proximity to the area do not leak, contrary to circulating rumours, the PM assured the legislature. Nevertheless, the dams were damaged by the recent flood and need to be repaired, he added.
“Even at this point it is clear that three of the four fatalities occurred due to the collapse of the bridge in Tsarevo,” Denkov said, specifying that technical experts should say why the facility caved in.

An interdepartmental commission, whose establishment he ordered on September 7, is tasked with reviewing the damage and reporting within 14 days on the main causes of the disaster and ways of preventing such events in future.
“The possible causes that are often cited are deforestation and building development of river gullies. Yes, this may have triggered the disaster, but the commission should say whether it did so in this particular case. If we want to avert such problems in future, a systematic approach should be taken, and it takes years of efforts that have not been made so far,” the PM pointed out.

So far, the cost of the flood damage in Tsarevo is estimated at approximately BGN 30 million, Denkov said. The budget allocation for disaster and accident response is about BGN 60 million.

Fifty-six damaged properties in the municipality have been inspected, and ten applications for one-off financial support have been submitted.

The Prime Minister thanked the 11 fire service crews with 35 firefighters, the two diver teams and the volunteers who responded instantly, on the morning after the torrential rain started, helping the rescue of people from the endangered settlements where, in addition to the local residents, there were some 4,000 vacationers.