Romania Dam Bursts, Killing 66; 10,000 Flee

A dam burst after heavy rain in mountainous northeastern Romania, unleashing a torrent that killed at least 66 people and forced 10,000 to flee their homes, officials said Monday.

The dam collapse late Sunday sent a wall of water up to 13 feet high rushing down a valley, in some cases sweeping away children and elderly people who could not swim.

Heavy rains and flooding damaged hundreds of homes and dozens of bridges and knocked out communications and transportation, radio reports said. A government spokesman in Bucharest said at least 51 villages were affected.

The disaster on the Tazlau River occurred when a crack opened between the dam and the side of the riverbed at Belci, 25 miles south of the major regional town of Bacau, said Laurentiu Rebenciuc, a local government official. He said 66 people were killed by the flood.

Gheorghe Iftode, an adviser to Bacau county, said another 67 people were missing. There were no figures on the number of injured.

About 500 soldiers and 20 army helicopters were sent to Bacau county, 150 miles north of Bucharest, to help in the evacuation, according to a journalist who contacted the area. Troops were using inflatable boats to go house-to-house in villages completely surrounded by floodwaters.

“In some places, all that was left of the houses were their foundations,” said Dr. Svetlana Encica, an emergency-room physician reached by telephone in the town of Onesti. “I could see animals torn apart by the water and the fallen trees.”

Bridges “were simply swept away. Everything collapsed as if it were a deck of cards, and nothing was left except for the earth,” she said.

She said 64-year-old Catrina Oprinteschi of the village of Slobozia, about five miles south of the dam, held her nephew’s head above water for several hours until they were rescued. Both were recovering in the hospital.

Another witness, 36-year-old Jana Falfara, said by telephone that the wave of water from the dam collapse was 10 to 13 feet high.