Summary of Wire & Newspaper Stories about Ukraine & the flood in Zakarpattia (Nov 11-13)

Death Tolls

• Nov 11 By Tuesday morning [10th November] nine people had died in a flood in Western Ukraine ,
• Nov 12 A flood in Transcarpathian Region has taken 11 lives, and 230 people have been admitted to hospital, according to the press service for the Ukrainian Ministry for Emergency Situations.
• Nov 13, Floods which swept western Ukraine over the past week have claimed 11 lives, and the death toll may rise further, emergency ministry officials said yesterday.

Water Levels

• Nov 11, The water level of the Tysa river has dropped 40 centimeters and stabilized at 130 .2 centimeters...
• Nov 12 Budapest, 11 November (MTI) - The danger of flooding will remain for at least another month on the Tisza river, but taking the Hungarian sections of other rivers, including the Bodrog and the Danube, into consideration, the danger could exist for even longer, as the effects of current rainfall cannot be predicted on water levels, officials of the Flood Control, Inland Waters and Water Quality Protection Inspectorate told MTI on Wednesay. According to the inspectorate, the notorious flood wave in 1970 took two months to pass through the country.

Communities affected

Nov 11, A total of 118 communities with 26,498 houses remain flooded. Some 1,349 houses have been destroyed

Evacuations

• Nov 11 Rescue teams had moved about 14,000 people.
• total of 23,400 people were evacuated on Tuesday [10th November].
• Nov 12 over 24,000 people temporarily resettled.
• Nov 12 Of an estimated 25,000 people who had to be evacuated from settlements, 11,000 have since returned to their houses, but 14,000 remained temporarily sheltered in schools and resthouses in the region.

Medical situation

• Nov 12 The sanitary and epidemiological situation remains complicated, as 36 per cent of the drinking water is infected with bacteria.
• Restoration work is being done by 9,550 people who have 879 units of equipment at their disposal. The Ministry for Emergency Situations has provided 459 workers and 181 units of equipment.
• Nov 11 A makeshift mobile hospital comprising four specially equipped containers on wheels have departed from Budapest on Wednesday to help flood victims in Subcarpathia, Ukraine The facility, served by five doctors and ten nursing staff, has two operating theatres and a fully equipped surgery, and will be available for flood victims in the vicinity of Mezovar, Ukraine , from Thursday. The mobile hospital is accompanied by a three-truck convoy loaded with food and blankets. The first aid convoy by the Budapest municipality to Ukraine left the capital on Tuesday.

Power Supplies

Nov 11, Power supplies have been restored in 68 communities, in 18 supplies are partial and 26 remain completely without electricity. Seven communities have revived gas supplies and repair work continues in 12.

Telephone Lines

Nov 11 Communication lines to 60 communities have been cut off, and seven have restored communications.

US aid

The US government has allocated 526,000 dollars worth of aid to flood -stricken areas in Ukraine 's Transcarpathia Region, Ukrainian news agency DINAU reported.

The aid, which is being distributed through the United States Agency of International Development (USAID), has already started arriving and is in the form of clothes, sleeping bags and medicine

Hungary sends flood relief to Ukraine

Nov 11 Hungary dispatched some 80 large aid shipments to Ukraine to relief flood victims in the Sub-Carpathian region bordering the country.

Mobile Hospital Rolling to Help Flood Victims

"For now we're concerning ourselves with saving human lives," Bykov said, adding that neighbouring Hungary had already shipped in 15 tons of bread, four tons of sugar and 26,000 bottles of water as well as blankets, shoes and warm clothes for the victims of the flood .

Poland aid to Ukrainian flood victims

Nov. 11: Poland's Interior and Administration Ministry has sent 27 trucks with aid for flood victims in Ukraine . The convoy should reach Ukraine on Wednesday evening.

Interior Minister Janusz Tomaszewski said that this was the first time since 1945 that Poland has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine , which lent considerable assistance to Poland during last year's heavy floods.