The number of fatalities killed in floods in western Ukraine has risen to 26. The casualty list includes five children, and dozens have been reported missing, according to Itar-Tass. Some 15,000 people have been evacuated from the inundated Ivano-Frankovsk, Lvov, Transcarpathian, Ternopol and Chernovtsy regions. According to the press service of Ukraine's Emergency Situations Ministry, the water level has decreased on the rivers Dnestr, Prut, and Tisa and elsewhere by one to two meters. In the past four days, the water level has risen by 9 to 10 meters in a number of locations. Traffic was suspended on the Odessa-Reni highway on Tuesday morning, and the holiday-makers near the Dnestr estuary were strongly recommended to leave recreation centers and move away from the river. The damage caused by floods in western Ukraine is estimated at 600 million to one billion dollars. On Sunday, the head of a government commission, First Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Turchinov described the flood situation as extremely grave. “Ukraine has not seen anything like that for the past 100 years,” he said at a briefing in Ivano-Frankovsk. A total of 21,000 houses and 18,000 hectares of arable lands were partially flooded as a result of torrential rains that have continued in the Lvov, Transcarpathian, Ternopol, Chernovtsy and Ivano-Frankovsk regions from July 23. A total of 258 settlements, 209 car bridges and 214 pedestrian bridges have been damaged alone in the Ivano-Frankovsk region, the worst hit by the flooding, and 160 settlements have been cut off from electricity supply there. A cyclone from the Balkans has brought in Ukraine torrential rains and gale-force winds. On Monday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev expressed condolences to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and relatives of those who died in the devastating floods. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko visited Ivano-Frankovsk. The prime minister wanted to personally supervise the work of the government commission for the liquidation of flood aftermath.
