(18 Apr 2006)
Slanotran
6. Swollen river
7. Soldiers walking on grass along side of river
8. SOUNDBITE: (Bulgarian) Damyn Nikolov, Volunteer
"We are working 24 hour shifts to help in case of danger, walking up and down."
9. Swollen water and trees
10. Water metre
11. Nikolov with two other volunteers and a dog
12. SOUNDBITE: (Bulgarian) Peter Atanasov, Deputy Chairman of the district''s Commission of Emergency:
"We have full support from the state, the army and the population."
Slanotran
1. Road sign reading: "road closed due to flooding"
Vidin
2. Castle along River Danube
3. People watching river
4. Children watching river
Vidin
5. SOUNDBITE: (Bulgarian) Ivan Tsenov, Mayor of Vidin
"Vidin has declared an emergency situation. The water levels of the Danube have never been so high in the history of Vidin. The southern part of the town is submerged in water, many houses, basements and ground floors are also submerged. Two villages are cut from the world. For one week an emergency crew is in town, which will unite the work of our structures and institutions. We are working 24 hour shifts to stabilise the dykes. That''s where the danger is, in the dykes. The town is lower than the river and if the dykes were to break the whole town would be under the water."
Vidin
13. Various of people filling sandbags
14. Truck depositing sand
15. Wide of Danube
STORYLINE:
The Danube River flowed at near-record levels in Bulgaria on Tuesday threatening to flood the houses of thousands of residents.
In Bulgaria''s northwestern port city of Vidin roads were closed and residents built flood defence barriers.
Ivan Tsenov, Mayor of Vidin said an "emergency situation" had been called.
"The southern part of the town is submerged in water, many houses, basements and ground floors are also submerged. Two villages are cut from the world," Tsenov said.
"We are working 24 hour shifts to stabilise the dykes. That''s where the danger is, in the dykes. The town is lower than the river and if the dykes were to break the whole town would be under the water," Tsenov added.
In Slanotran, the Danube river was clearly swollen, Damyn Nikolov a volunteer said "we are working 24 hours shifts to help in case of danger."
Peter Atanasov, Deputy Chairman of Commission of Emergency said they had received "full support" from the state.
Spring melting of snow together with heavy rains has led to floods throughout south eastern Europe in the past few weeks.
The Danube was receding Tuesday in Serbia where after having caused extensive damage to homes and farmland.
Keyword-severe weather - floods
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