Storms and floods in Romania have claimed the lives of 14 people this week, with three people still missing, the Mediafax news agency reported Saturday. On Saturday, the body of a man gone missing several days ago was found in his car, which had been washed off the road in the south Carpathian region Valcea. Interior Minister Vasile Blaga was quoted as saying that six people were killed by lightning and eight drowned. According to official figures, storms, torrential rain and floods have hit 488 towns and villages in 30 of Romania's 41 administrative reagions. Rescuers brought more than 1,200 people to safety. More than 10,300 homes were flooded and just under 200 destroyed, while 33,300 hectares of arable land and 640 kilometres of roads were submerged. Bad weather and recurring floods have claimed more than 30 lives and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage in Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary this summer. --SP 2004 Local Time 1704 GMT
