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He said during the day the flood will peak at Mohács and will leave Hungary, “we will politely show it out of the country.” Therefore, from Wednesday, the operational group will function within limited boundaries. According to his information, in contrast to 4,458 persons on Monday, now only 1,847 persons are taking part in the flood defence effort.
Mr Orbán indicated that the precipitation expected this week will not meaningfully affect the passage of the flood, and so we have every reason to hope that the flood will not cause a single point of the dam system to burst.
The Prime Minister said flood defence is not posing any difficulties now in any location North of Budapest and the capital, too “can be regarded as relieved.”
He also mentioned that the Danube at Mosonmagyaróvár has receded by more than a metre, at Győr by 221 centimetres, at Komárom by 293, at Esztergom by 235, at Vác by 190, while in Budapest by 162 centimetres, and the water level has also dropped at Baja.
According to the Prime Minister’s information, the Great Pandúr Island in Baja can only be protected up to a water level of 850 centimetres; now, the water level is 75 centimetres higher than that and at times like this, the water attacks the buildings built on the floodplains.
During this year’s flood on the Danube, temporary flood protection facilities were built on sections of a total length of forty kilometres, while mobile flood protection walls were built on a section of 4,600 metres, he listed.
Continuing the list, the Prime Minister said they had used two million sand bags and 32,000 cubic metres – the equivalent of some 55,000 tonnes – of sand.
He stressed that they had established the protocol for returning to normal order. They are taking back any unused bags to municipal and state warehouses. The sand will be poured out of any bags not used; these bags will be used during the next flood “which we hope is far off.”
Any bags which did not come into contact with the water qualify as waste and will be disposed of accordingly, while any bags which did come into contact with the water qualify as hazardous waste and will be disposed of in accordance with the relevant public health regulations, he added.
Mr Orbán further mentioned that the water authority had mobilised almost two thousand people, disaster management had mobilised 1,760 persons, the defence forces had mobilised two thousand persons and had kept 4,000 alert around the clock, while the police had mobilised 420 persons. Regarding the latter, it is good news if that number is low because it means that it was not necessary to withdraw police officers from law enforcement duty due to the flood protection effort, he pointed out. He said “we’re not going to start a debate about the number of volunteers, there were many, the more numerous they are the better.”
He also said a third-degree flood protection alert has been instated on a total section of 403 kilometres.
He drew attention to the fact that an emergency flood protection alert – which is above the third-degree alert and represents a direct and imminent flood threat – had to be instated on a section of some forty kilometres.
He said since 21 September, people from the water authority have covered a total distance of 5,500 kilometres, supervising the sections they have been assigned to. He stressed that this was more or less double the length of the entire Hungarian border.
He observed: he calculated that he himself had covered a distance of 1,687 kilometres, “but I had an easier time of it than the water authority personnel because while they walked, I could cover most of the distance in a car.” He added that during the flood defence effort he had covered the distance from here to Tallinn.
The most important characteristic of the receding flood was that, compared with the earlier flood, there was a level difference of 6.5 metres, said the Prime Minister. He mentioned as an example that while in Budapest on 13 September the water level stood at 205 centimetres, the water peaked a few days later at 830 centimetres, adding that the water level at Dunaújváros rose from 60 centimetres to 677, while at Baja from 173 centimetres to above nine meters. Regarding the average of settlements, it is possible to say that within a few days the height of the water column rose from 141 centimetres to 797 centimetres, meaning to almost eight metres, he said in summary.
Mr Orbán thanked everyone for their hard work in the flood defence effort.
In answer to a question, he described cooperation during the flood between local governments and the state agencies involved in the flood defence effort as exemplary, and also thanked Mayor of Budapest Gergely Karácsony for his cooperation.
In answer to the question of whether the capital will receive the HUF 6 billion blocked to date for the Chain Bridge and the tunnel, the Prime Minister said everyone receives everything they are entitled to and is due to them, and this is also true of the capital.
He indicated that during the present flood, he has visited the entire section of the Danube, and in several locations it appears to stand to reason to build mobile dams in order to not have to resort to sand bag defence during the next flood.
He added that there are sections where it is not possible to build mobile dams, but they can significantly shorten the lengths of these. He also highlighted that while the construction of mobile dam systems “is not cheap,” it “will not break the bank, as in the Hungarian budget.” Therefore, if they receive a well-timed recommendation from the water authority, they will be able to implement these projects during the course of the coming year.
The European Union’s flood protection aid is like the dog’s dinner. It is better if you do not expect it, but if they give it to us, we are grateful, said the Prime Minister in answer to the question of how much of the EU grants worth EUR 10 billion earmarked for the alleviation of flood damage Hungary will apply for.
Mr Orbán said “it’s important in terms of social psychology that we Hungarians, all of us get used to the fact that we can only count on ourselves.”
“I could also say Sinn Féin if we’re looking for akin nations,” he said in reference to the name of the political party in Northern Ireland which means ‘we ourselves.’ “What we are able to solve will be solved, what we are unable to solve no one will solve for us,” he observed.
Regarding the possible construction of a dam system on the Danube, Mr Orbán stated that they had always supported the construction of dams parallel with rivers and had always opposed the construction of dams across rivers. Instead, we should have a defence system comprised of excellent water experts and defences built along the Danube which enables us to channel away the large water mass that develops on the Danube from time to time without a dam built across the Danube, he added.
He recalled that Hungary was the only country where there was no dam across the Danube, while everywhere both above us and below us the water level of the river was regulated. He warned that such dams caused irreversible interventions, and the damage done to the flora and fauna could also prove to be irreversible. In his opinion, the Hungarian people have a special relationship with the Danube and the Tisza, “these are sacred things for us,” and so as long as possible, we must preserve their sacrality.
Referring to Bős-Nagymaros, the barrage planned in the 1980s but never constructed, he said they are making good progress in negotiations with the Slovaks in order to conclude the debates that have remained open also in an international law sense since the eighties, and a Slovak-Hungarian agreement could well be reached in the near future without having to build a dam.
“There is such little good news, isn’t there?” the Prime Minister said in response to a question about why the flood defence effort was so emphatic in the government’s communication. He stressed that everything had worked well in the defence effort, “everything went smoothly.”
In answer to a question regarding the fact that while according to the government spokesperson it is not appropriate to use the flood defence effort for political purposes, they have nonetheless spent HUF 30 million in public funds on advertising Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Facebook page, Mr Orbán said the people must be informed during a flood; the bigger the problem the more they should be informed. This is a duty and the government does well to meet this obligation, he stated.
He also said there is ongoing cooperation with the Serbian authorities, but they have not requested assistance from them in connection with the flood protection effort.
