Uzhgorod, 13.11.98.

Some additional information to the report on the flood in Transcarpathia dated 10.11.98. as to the current situation in the region.

Tyachiv district

27 localities are in the zone of flood disaster, more than in any other effected district. The water wave peaked at 8 m. 3 people died. 14 thousand people (10% of district population) are evacuated.

The villages Ust-Chorna, Lopuhiv, Vilhivchik, Ruska Mokra, Komsomolsk (Nimezka Mokra), Krasna are still cut off, for 15 km of the principal road above Dubove is destroyed as well as narrow-gauge railroad. They could be reached only by helicopters. This area is in dense fog and snow.

The town of Tyachiv, half of it is flooded, in some places the level is 180cm. Essential aid has been not provided yet.

Khust district

41 flooded localities, 48 damaged houses in Khust and 90 in Vishkove, 45km of damaged roads, 4 bridges. 90% of localities were without power and telephone supplies on 6-7th of November. Now 5 villages are without electricity and 3 without connection.

Vishkove is totally flooded. 76 more houses are in the state of breakdown now.

Near the village there was the burial of malignant anthrax of 1957.

Rakhiv district

In regional Mass Media of 12th, 13th of November there is no information about Rakhiv district. Vasil Homa, a head of beneficial fund "Carpathian Agency of Regional Development", has just given the following data by tel./fax and sent us some photos by Internet. Please find them enclosed to the given document. And todays midday, Fedir Shandor, a journalist of Uzhgorod newspaper and radio, has gone to Rakhiv.

1254-flooded houses, most flooded localities: Rakhiv-230 houses, Kostylivka-201,

V. Bychkiv-135, Jasynya-129, Bylin-124, Kos.Polyana-104. 104 people are evacuated.

Mukachevo district

The water wave peaked at 687cm (555cm of dike), therefore 2/3 of the town of Mukachevo is flooded. 70 damaged houses, one 5-storeyed building is cracked. The breakdown of houses is still taking place for there are wattle and daub houses. About 2 thousand people are evacuated. The emergency services make every effort to pump out flood water from the buildings.

Mizhgirya district

Kolochava, Synevirska Polyana, Vuchkovo, Zaperedila are cut off. The most effected are: Mizhgirya, Sojmy, Strygalnya, Golyatyn, V.Bystrij. Actually there is no locality which is not in the list of the flood victimized ones. 28 cases of earth sliding are registered. The supplies are cut off. There is still a lack of further information.

Other areas

Beregovo district

The most flooded villages: Varievo, Chetovo, Kvasovo, Orosievo, Dobrosilla. The overflow of Tysa started at Thursday-Friday night. For a few hours the level of water was several meters. Now in the houses there is 70-80cm of mud. Rescue operations are still going on.

2500 people are moved out.

The left side of the village Varievo (1500 inhabitants) is completely flooded.

Near the village there was the burial of malignant anthrax of 1957.

Vynogradiv district

Mostly all the villages of the district are flooded. 3 persons died. 320 damaged houses.

In Korolevo the dike of the 8m high was destroyed in three places. 101 damaged houses, more then 100 are in the state of breaking down.

The approximate value of damages is about 15 million gryvnya.

The railroads Vylok-Borzhava, Vynogradiv-Korolevo have been already renewed.

What is still needed for today:

Food, fuel, warm clothes (rain and snow is falling in the mountains), portable electric power stations; food, clothes and shoes for children, cables, the filter systems for purifying water, petrol and diesel for heating, medicine, disinfectants. The epidemic of leptomatous is spreading. Among 195175 people who had passed medical examination 5081 are sick and 1812 of them have acutely inflamed tonsils. 300 people are hospitalized with the diagnosis of overcooling, grippe A, B, poisoning with dirty, not filtered water, diphtheria, and dysentery. The prognoses of another epidemic diseases are made.

It seems that the discussion on the reasons of flood might appear in Mass Media soon. Here is a first sign of it.

(Some scathes on the article "Why floods are happened? by Klovanych Y. Staryj Zamok 12.11.98)

Flood as it is.

For the last century Transcarpathia encountered 19 catastrophic floods, 16 mud-streams, 25 avalanches, and 12 windfalls which caused extensive damages. The main reason is considered to be the heavy showers, but the real reasons became more and more transparent as forests of Transcarpathia. After the World War II Carpathian Mountains donated 100 million m3 of the rare timber, 20 million m3 of the timber were cut out above scientifically-based measures. The effects or wed better call it after-effects are too vivid and too terrible not to mention it anymore.

Vasil Komendar, doctor of Biological Sciences, is of the opinion that these reasons are as follows:

due to the exceeding and unconscionable pasturing of the animals the upper forest limit has descended 200-250 m.;

the area covered with forest is receding during the last two decades;

large-scale mono-planting of the fur-groove instead of the mixed forest has aggravated the hydrological conditions of the watersheds.

To stabilize the ecological situation of the forests we have to reduce the annual amount of the felling, to renew the upper forest limit, to provide narrow felling, to afforest areas subjected to erosion and sliding, to work out scientific methods of sustention of the biological balance.

Floods are descending mountains and can not be assimilated due to the irresponsible attitude.

It is also proposed to build a cascade of water-power plants to accumulate flood waters.

Isnt it a "new tool?" (LIKs remark)

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