As in previous years, regular sandbags were used to keep the water out. The most recent plan was to build a mobile dam but this sparked protests this March. Even a mobile dam requires some landscaping and this means cutting down (at least) some trees. Protesters say it’s not worth it as Római-part is the only remaining place in the city where you can get close to the Danube without having to inhale extraordinary amounts of exhaust fumes. A few days ago the flood made this possible at the city center as well and the banks were full of people.

Opponents of the mobile dam of Római-part admit the need for some counter-flood measure but they fear that building this dam would mean the irreversible destruction of Római-part’s unique milieu. The proponents of the mobile dam say that the damages would be minimal and they note that after each flood generous amounts of disinfectants must be used on the flooded areas, which is not really environmentally friendly either.

he solution may come from a Hungarian innovation called Tentdam. As the name implies, it is basically a tent which is filled with water. It is lightweight, cheaper than other solutions and easier to store, carry and set up. A Tentdam section (length: 100 m, height: 1.3 m) can be built by two people in two hours without any need for special tools or knowledge. Water-filled dams are not a new thing, the innovation here is its triangular shape that makes it more resistant. And it is especially good for the Római-part problem because it requires no landscaping at all!

Perhaps not so surprisingly after Attraction (who won Britain’s Got Talent!), other countries were quicker to embrace a great thing than Hungary herself. Swedish Vellinge has already bought 120 meters of it to fight flood. In Hungary, Tentdam was so unknown that it wasn’t even considered as a solution for Római-part this year. Fortunately nothing is final about the Római-part dam yet and the authorities promised to consider the possibility of using Tentdam. It seems to be an optimal solution, so let’s hope for the best.

Source: eastokeuroe.com - published on XpatLoop.com with permission