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Anastasia Balezdrova

"We have learnt about the heavy rainfall in Bulgaria and the swelling of the Maritsa from the media", deputy governor of Evros Dimitris Petrovits told GRReporter. He said that the district administration had not been informed by their Bulgarian colleagues of the probability of the Maritsa swelling and causing problems along the river valley in Greece.

"The new leadership took office two months ago and the crisis came unexpectedly. Currently 1,000 cubic metres of water per second are falling in the Maritsa," he added.

In his words, a few years ago the border areas in the three countries through which the river flows organized a network for cross-border cooperation called "Bulgaria-Greece-Turkey". "Within its context, the district administration in Haskovo would inform the prefecture in Alexandroupoli and the colleagues in Edirne whenever there was a risk of the Maritsa swelling in order for them to take timely action", said Petrovits who, as a journalist, is very well aware of the developments. He pointed out that direct communication allows the coordination of the activities and the resolution of the crisis with as few consequences as possible.

The network ceased operation in 2010 when Greece carried out the administrative reform "Kalikratis" without a clear reason. The reform removed the prefectures from the administrative division of the country and transferred their powers to the regional governments.

According to Petrovits, the district administration in Haskovo had even obtained a satellite phone to facilitate the communication between the network partners, which was not used after 2010.

"After 2010 the communication on disaster management took place by verbal notes. The Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Water informed the Embassy of Greece in Sofia, which is how the information reached the regional authorities. This continued until the current crisis," said the deputy district governor.

He expressed the call of Evros district governor George Pavlidis to his colleagues in Haskovo and Edirne to resume the operation of the network for cross-border cooperation. "I am optimistic in this respect. The aim of all of us is to protect people and their property from disasters", said in conclusion Petrovits.

The authorities in Evros are still in a state of high alert, because of the possibility of the Maritsa swelling. At 01:00 pm, the water level in the area of ​​Pitio was 5.99 metres, its critical limit being 5.70 metres. Near Petalo village in the region of the town of Feres, the level is 4.60 metres whereas the critical limit there is 6 metres.

Late in the afternoon, a slight decrease was reported in the water volume and speed, from 1,000 cubic metres to 912 cubic meters per second, at the point where the Maritsa meets the Tundzha and Arda feeders. The regional authorities in Evros consider as hopeful the fact that the water flow in the region of Svilengrad is 550 cubic metres per second, and the release of water from the Ivaylovgrad dam of the Arda River remains unchanged, namely 198 cubic metres per second from the beginning of the crisis.