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Floods Worsen, Rail Link Between Bratislava and Kosice Cut
Friday 04 June 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Mala Lodina, June 4 (TASR) - The weather is making life hard for the inhabitants of Mala Lodina village near Kosice, built on the drainage side of the Ruzin dam. According to mayor of the village Adriana Feckova, the access road to the village had to be cleared of eroded soil several times on Friday.
"The worst thing is that a slope on the left side of the Hornad River slid down. Practically our whole cemetery collapsed," said Feckova, adding that the soil also fell on one of the local train tracks. "At the last moment we managed to alarm the train operators to stop a express train and avoided an immense tragedy," she added. The inhabitants of Mala Lodina are expecting a flood wave from the Ruzin dam at any time. "It seems as if the drainage will get out of control again," added the mayor.
According to Slovak Railways (ZSR) spokesperson Martina Pavlikova, the main rail link between Bratislava and Kosice is completely cut off at the moment due to the land slides in the area of Mala Lodina. Two of the tracks are completely covered with eroded soil and another two have damaged electric lines. ZSR expects railway traffic to be disrupted for at least three hours.
The situation in Presov region also became more complicated on Friday due to the prevailing rain and subsequent increases in water levels. Conditions have become critical in Bardejov, where the Topla River flooded several streets, which had to be evacuated.
The town of Presov is threatened by the rising levels of the Torysa and Sekcov Rivers.
The situation in the area of Rimavska Sobota (Banska Bystrica) became dramatic overnight when 13 villages were flooded by the Blh River and had to be evacuated. If the Rimava River continues to rise, the town of Rimavska Sobota could be flooded as well.
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