KATRINA WAS BAD, BUT BULGARIA, SERBIA AND ROMANIA ARE LIKELY WORSE

Not sure if the mainstream US news is covering this story but I thought I'd at least mention it just in case. Seems the Danube river in the Bulgaria/Serbia/Romania area has flooded over 1000 miles of land that was largely used by people. I don't know how many square miles of land Katrina wrecked, but I haven't heard the phrase "1000 miles" bandied about in connection with that storm.

This isn't to belittle Katrina victims or anything like that, just pointing out that things are rough for people in other places on the planet, too, and perhaps we might better spend our $200+ billion helping people/countries as opposed to invading sovereign nations like Iraq and, probably very soon, Iran.

Here's a goodly chunk of [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2137746,00.html|an April 17, 2006 article] at http://TimesOnline.co.uk covering the disaster:

THE Blue Danube of legend was yesterday a torrent of brackish floodwater after it burst its banks in Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria, causing widespread destruction and raising fears of mass evacuations.

Romanian officials began a programme of controlled flooding, after the Danube reached its highest levels for more than a century, to prevent low-lying villages being submerged.

The floods have been caused by high rainfall and melting snow from the harsh Balkan winter. Hundreds of houses have been flooded in the region and thousands of people have been made homeless.

In Romania the waters flowed at a record rate of 15,900 cubic metres per second. The normal flow for this time of year is 7,900 cubic metres per second.

“We are going through an unprecedented situation. Romania has never had such water levels,” said Madalin Mihailovici, director of the Agency for Romanian Waters.