Early Monday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán postponed all his international obligations due to flood protection. Hungary also activated the EU’s integrated crisis response mechanism as president of the Council of the European Union.
Level three flood protection preparedness has already been ordered in the capital of Budapest and in the areas of the Danube tributary Lajta.
Margitsziget and the quays in the capital have been closed, while some transport has also been shut down. Multiple cycle paths and roads have also been closed along the Danube.
Yesterday, Minister of the Interior Sándor Pintér said they are 100 percent prepared to defend against the floodwaters.
Meanwhile, politics is alive and well, with Hungarian Defense Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky firing back at opposition darling Péter Magyar for playing politics “at the dams” instead of ”in parliament.”
Magyar’s Tisza Party has reportedly coordinated the work of almost 1,000 volunteers at the most critical points, posting about his efforts on Facebook and claiming that the Hungarian Defense Forces are nowhere to be seen.
“Péter Magyar denigrates the capabilities of the Hungarian Defense Forces, and thereby the soldiers who stand in the mud at the dam(s),” the defense minister wrote on Facebook.
In another post, he called on Fidesz politicians to pick up a shovel, adding, “Don’t be afraid. It won’t hurt.”
“It is shameful that when an entire country is holding its own and standing on the barriers, the opposition’s Facebook bravado rages against the Hungarian Defense Forces. Hundreds of soldiers are working with countless tools in several settlements of the country to avoid trouble and for all Hungarians to rest their heads in safety,” Szalay-Bobrovniczky stated.
Hungary’s forces have been busy preparing to mobilize thousands to be wherever they are needed during the flood “because there is nothing more important than the protection of the Hungarian people and Hungarian soldiers can be counted on,” the defense minister added.
The Danube is expected to peak in Budapest on Saturday, according to Mandiner.hu. The river’s water level is not expected to reach the record high level of 891 centimeters it hit in 2013, but it will come close.
Compared to the flood disaster Hungary experienced in 1838, flooding in 2006 and 2013 caused much less damage and claimed no lives on the domestic river sections. This was primarily due to the good condition of the defenses and the mobile dams that had been prepared, the portal adds.
