Posted on 09/29/2002 8:52:45 AM PDT by HAL9000
Serious accidental floods with Tirana
Sunday September 29, 2002 - 15h23 GMT
TIRANA, 29 seven (AFP) - the Albanian capital, Tirana, remained Sunday mainly flooded by water of an artificial lake located near the city, after the malencontreuse opening, the day before, of a valve of the stopping of reserve by an employee in a state of intoxication.
The Albanian army however managed in the morning to close the valves of the stopping, indicated to the press the prefect of Tirana, Lili Nushi.
Tirana was in parallel private of electricity and drinking water following the floods which caused damage with the transformers and the drains.
The police force stopped Sunday two engineers responsible for the construction of the lake, as well as a director of the town hall of Tirana and the guard of the site.
The mayor-assistant of Tirana, Blendi Goxhe, was also challenged Saturday evening by the police force which asked him for explanations.
In the districts disaster victims, horses, carriages, heavy lorries or dinghys remained the only means of displacement of the population. One could also see that and there children and women transported to back of man.
The inhabitants évertuaient themselves to save water their goods most invaluable. A stench started to emerge from the touched districts.
The water, whose level by places had reached Saturday at least a half-meter in height, infiltrated in hundreds of dwellings and stores.
About thirty families was evacuated, whereas tens of others preferred to spend the night on the terraces of the buildings.
The authorities however did not give a report on victims.
The pouring rain of the last days had made dangerously assemble the level of the lake, whose surplus waters are generally poured in the Lana river, which crosses Tirana, or in the drains.
An opening of 25 cm a valve and the impossiblity then to close again it because of the outdatedness of the system of locking made squirt significant volumes of water with less the 3 cubic meters of water a second -- which flowed in many districts of the city.
In addition, of the buildings, contruits in an anarchistic way, prevents the access to certain drains which were saturated or damaged at the time of the innondation.
The inhabitants of the higher stages did not hide their fear to see subsoil waters damaging the foundations of their buildings paid at the full prices, but set up without permit building and respect of the standards of construction.
In 1998, a private company, TISS, had carried out renovation work of the installations of the lake, built in the years 1960 pennies the communist mode of Enver Hoxha, in the south of the Albanian capital.
According to first results' of an investigation ordered by Albanian the Prime Minister, Fatos Nano, the quality of this work left something to be desired, "no technical parameter not having been respected", according to specialists'.
The Albanian government which, for one week, has had to face a state of natural disaster in the north of the country, touched by consecutive floods with pouring rain, was to meet Sunday evening to take measures urgently likely to restore a normal situation with Tirana.
Win one for the Gipper! God Bless You Reagan, We Will Never Forget Your Great Service and Leadership - We here on FR will carry on your great work with diligence. Thanks for the Memories and Inspiration!
He flooded the city with the contents of all their reserves of cointreu???
Drunken guard triggers a dam disaster
September 28 2002 at 02:17PM
Tirana, Albania - A drunken dam guard, angry that he was not allowed to drink more, pushed a button that opened a dam port and flooded a Tirana neighborhood, media reported on Saturday.
The guard, working at an artificial dam, pushed a button that opened a port late on Friday, releasing water that damaged a neighborhood with many recently erected buildings, Tirana vice-mayor Blendi Gonxhe told TV Arberia early on Saturday.
TV Arberia and Shijak TV reported that the guard was drunk when city officials came to the dam on Friday evening to inspect repairs finished earlier that day. The guard asked the officials for another drink, but was refused. The guard then threatened to drown the officials and pushed the button, the stations reported.
No one was reported injured, but thousands of people were unable to leave or enter their homes late on Friday because of the water. The locks were closed after 90 minutes, but water and mud had already damaged buildings and streets. Parts of the streets were still under water on Saturday morning.
The guard was detained, Gonxhe said.
Meanwhile, Albania is struggling to cope with damages caused by recent flooding.
The northern town Lezha and many rural areas remained under water Saturday, a week after heavy rain inundated much of the country. Light rains fell on much of the country Saturday, but forecasters predicted the downfall would stop by Monday.
The floods have killed one person, damaged 26 000 hectares of farmland and left 80 000 people homeless, the government said. The floods are estimated to have caused damage worth 2,5-billion leks (about R180-million). - Sapa-AP
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