HUNDREDS OF ROMANIANS FACED EVACUATION ON TUESDAY AS RESCUE TEAMS STRUGGLED TO REINFORCE DIKES HOLDING BACK THE SWOLLEN DANUBE RIVER, OFFICIALS SAID. HEAVY RAIN AND MELTING SNOW HAVE SWOLLEN WATERWAYS AND INUNDATED VAST TRACTS OF LAND IN ROMANIA, BULGARIA, SERBIA AND HUNGARY THIS MONTH, MAKING THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE HOMELESS. IN ROMANIA, THE WORST-HIT COUNTRY WHERE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF HECTARES ARE SUBMERGED, SOME 3,950 PEOPLE HAVE MOVED TO HIGH GROUND SINCE SUNDAY AFTER EARTH-MADE DIKES NEAR POOR SOUTHERN VILLAGES COLLAPSED, PUTTING THE TOTAL OF EVACUEES AT 9,520. IN THE VILLAGE OF BECHET, SOME 800 PEOPLE HAVE FLED THEIR HOUSES AND RESCUERS WERE GEARING UP TO EVACUATE HUNDREDS MORE AFTER A NEARBY DIKE BURST. "THE SITUATION IS VERY BAD. WE NEED TO EVACUATE 1,200 PEOPLE FROM BECHET AND ITS SURROUNDINGS BY THIS EVENING," BECHET MAYOR CONSTANTIN OCLEI TOLD REUTERS.
