As Minister of the Environment and Environment Tomáš Taraba (nominee of the Slovak National Party) stated at a press conference on Saturday, a flood wave is expected on the Danube because rain activity has increased over Austria. “The Slovak water management company asked us to declare the third level of flood activity in Bratislava on Sunday morning from six o’clock, so that they could start cordoning off the city,” said Taraba.
The Danube in Bratislava could reach a level of 910 centimeters at Monday’s culmination. “That is the level at which Bratislava would begin to be flooded,” added the Minister of the Environment. The Morava River will also declare a third flood stage. It should also remain at this level, and there should be no milking on the Slovak side to the spillover of Moravia.
Thanks to the increased level of the Danube, the Gabčíkovo hydropower plant produces 400 megawatt hours of electricity. “That’s the output of a smaller nuclear power plant,” stated Taraba. However, only seven of the eight turbines are in operation, because one of them is being serviced.
“The seventh turbine started to show a certain degree of vibration and it cannot be ruled out that it will shut down automatically. In that case, Gabčíkovo will have to open the locks and start releasing water,” said the minister. Boat traffic on the Slovak section of the Danube will be stopped from Sunday.
Firefighters in the Bratislava and Trnava regions have intervened 220 times so far. It was mainly about fallen trees.
