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Good day everyone.
We are now in the ninth day of the defence operations. We now feel like recruits doing national service: having got past the halfway point, we are now counting off the days. According to our calculations we have another five days left of high-priority defence operations demanding the greatest effort. We have hopes that the flood level will recede sooner, but let us make calm assessments, as we have done so far. So we still have five more difficult days to get through and endure before the country can breathe easy again. Yesterday flood defence operations were in place along 755 kilometres. This is only one kilometre more than the day before, which is a good indication that we have turned the corner, and we are past the middle. We have already had our first small victory, because the water level in the Szigetköz has fallen by about one metre. I think we are past the worst there. We have seen the water level peak in Nagybajcs, Komárom and Esztergom. Today the highest water level is in Vác at the moment, and it will soon arrive in Budapest. In some places we can now say with certainty how much below the highest recorded water levels this year’s surge is. So it was 29 centimetres lower on the Lajta/Leitha, at Mosonmagyaróvár – that is in the past now – and 50 centimetres lower at Nagybajcs on the Danube. We have got past that too, as that was on Thursday afternoon. At Komárom the peak was at dawn on Friday, where we were 55 centimetres below the 2013 level, 61 centimetres below the 2013 level in Esztergom, and 55 centimetres below the 2013 level in Vác. And in Budapest we will have an exact figure by the afternoon, of course, but it looks like we will be 59 centimetres below the 2013 level. So the diagnosis has been borne out: the assessment of the situation, the analysis by the water management authority that we are facing a challenge that we know, and that we have to deal with a water level that we have already dealt with before. This is reflected in the calm and composed pace of the defence. The embankments are expected to be open again early next week, a day or two earlier than previously hoped. The number of people involved in flood defence operations has also changed. Compared to yesterday’s figure of 1,515, we have mobilised an additional 100 water management personnel – 170 to be precise. Of the earlier number of 1,469 soldiers we now need only 900, but we have put military units on standby down in the southern section. We do not think they will be needed, but we cannot rule that out, so they have moved south with the water. The number of members of citizens’ patrol groups involved in the defence operations has increased from 317 to 574. This means that the day before yesterday we had 6,149 people involved in the defence operations and yesterday we had 5,344: 805 fewer. Volunteers are also here, and I have just learned how we collect data on volunteers. The mayors report on this. Since we have a county-based flood defence system, we collect the data from there. Yesterday we had 2,753 volunteers, and now we estimate that we will have 1,286 volunteers. This is sufficient, because we have already filled the sandbags and laid most of them. Now it is a matter of monitoring and patrolling.
What is perhaps worth telling you is that there are priority flood defence locations. We have had to increase the number of priority locations being defended by local governments, but this does not mean that those settlements are in immediate danger – they just need more attention. Accordingly, having declared some local government flood defences to be priority locations, we have stockpiled more sandbags. We have 30,600 more sandbags today than we had yesterday. We are now at 1,893,100 sandbags, if our records are accurate – and why wouldn’t they be? The second small victory we have won is from Pilismarót yesterday, where there was slippage in the embankment that is the backbone of the defence. We had to use divers there. In a 16-hour struggle, the slipped embankment was successfully reinforced underwater, so there will be no problem at Pilismarót. There has been an unpleasant occurrence at Vác. Due to the high water pressure, the sewage manholes burst open; but we managed to catch it – as the water management experts say – and we have already started decontamination work. There will be no problems in Vác either, but there is no doubt that the sewage coming out of the manholes has been unpleasant. At Kismaros we are fine, with a round-the-clock monitoring service in place.
There are new locations that we will be monitoring as a priority in the upcoming period, and these are now located south of Budapest. One of our priority sites is Ercsi. There the preparedness is 100 per cent complete. We have defences along 262 metres, and we have already laid 10,400 sandbags. The preparedness level is also 100 per cent at Kisapostag, where we have to be alert and where we had to build a low barrier. We have laid 5,000 sandbags there. We also have to be alert at Dunaföldvár, where volunteers and water management personnel have also carried out reinforcement work, and where 2,500 sandbags have been laid. And of course we always have to be alert at Paks – but there the defences are in particularly good condition and are 100 per cent complete.
So all in all, I can say that with God’s help we will be over the peak level here in Budapest today. I would ask everyone who is interested to please not go out to the Danube banks to watch the peak of the flooding unless you absolutely have to, because this will not help the defence works, but rather hinder them. Otherwise choose a viewing point from where you will not be hindering the essential work that may be in progress. So if the reports are true, and with God’s help, this afternoon we can turn all our attention to the settlements downstream of Budapest. At today’s meeting of the Operational Unit – of which another will be held tomorrow – I asked the leaders present not to let the attention of employees, workers and other personnel waver; because most breaches, accidents and flooding occur at such times as this, after the floodwaters have peaked. So it would be easy for a day or two of slackness or inattention to ruin the defence work that has been effective so far. I have therefore asked the leaders to set an example and to keep everyone on duty on Saturday and Sunday, so that the people on duty also feel that their attention cannot waver until the Director-General tells us – in the middle of next week, on Thursday – that we have also survived the great Danube flood of 2024.
If you have any questions, I am at your disposal.
