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Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen.
We are now coming to the end. There are things which end badly, and things which end well. This flood falls into the latter category. The good news is that the weather forecasters are still not predicting any rainfall, so no addition to the volume of the flood wave is expected. At noon the wave will crest at Baja, so a Level 3 alert has been declared at Baja and a Level 2 alert at Mohács. The upper reaches are receding at a faster rate than expected. This is also good news. At Mosonmagyaróvár the Danube has fallen by 80 centimetres, at Győr the Rába has fallen by 130 centimetres, at Esztergom by 136 centimetres, at Vác by 92 centimetres, at Budapest by 74 centimetres, at Dunaújváros by 17 centimetres, and at Paks the level has started to fall. The day before yesterday there were defences along 755 kilometres, yesterday along 706 kilometres, and the Level 3 defences – the highest level of preparedness – were reduced to 223 kilometres. All this shows that we are emerging from the worst and the pressure is easing. But I must say that it has not gone – it is only easing. We have every opportunity to be as optimistic as possible about the remaining one or two days. This can also be seen in the number of people involved in flood defences. The day before yesterday 5,025 people were involved, and yesterday only 4,458 – so 570 people have been able to stand down. The number of volunteers has now also fallen, to 195. Clearly now the work comprises monitoring, awareness and patrols. The number of sandbags laid and installed is not increasing either, and we have stopped at 1,903,100: the same as the day before yesterday and the day before that.
The more difficult locations are the following. At Pilismarót, where we are defending 3,300 metres, there is no change. Dunabogdány, Tahitótfalu, Leányfalu are okay. There is no change at Vác. Kismaros, where 600 metres of temporary structures have been erected, is in order. In Budapest Margaret Island is fine, as you can see. At the meeting of the Operational Unit this morning I heard from the Budapest leaders that we can get the Batthyány Square metro station back into service. I was in Kisapostag, where we have built a 500-metre-long temporary barrier with 5,000 sandbags; but there the water is already ebbing, and so there will be no problem there either. Dunaföldvár is fine. Madocsa is fine. Paks is fine. At Báta water has overflowed onto an access road, but a temporary barrier is protecting the buildings from flooding. Baja is always a complicated situation, and if you know the conditions of the settlement you will understand why. There the total length of the defences, the total length of the temporary barrier, is 2,750 metres, and construction of it is 100 per cent complete. In Baja there is always great unity, and very many volunteers. According to reports, this has been true again this time. Thank you very much to the people of Baja for their volunteer work! We have the challenge of a spent oil spill at Dunaújváros, on Szalki Island. Today we heard a report that it has been isolated, and will be removed tomorrow. We have the problem of an illegal landfill in Csepel, which is fenced off. So we have received a reassuring report that the fenced-off area of the illegal landfill itself means that no waste will be dumped into the Danube when the water recedes. Nevertheless, later it will need to be eliminated. It is on private land, and the person being prosecuted for it is in prison; so it is difficult to negotiate with him, but I hope we can make progress there.
Overall, therefore, I can tell you that the processes that the Director-General has referred to are taking place everywhere along the entire stretch of the Danube. We have to persevere for another one and a half to two days, and then the country can breathe a sigh of relief, because we will have got through the great Danube flood of 2024.
If you have any questions, I am at your disposal.
