Protective measures include putting in place mobile dams and surrounding Margaret Island with sandbags while ensuring the provision of drinking water, he said early on Wednesday, adding that sewage drainage and treatment in the city are stable.
Meanwhile, some traffic routes have been shut down in affected areas, he added.
Fully, 43 floodgates have been closed and a temporary 1,700-meter dam is being built out of 6,000 cubic meters of clay, while pumps have been deployed around Margaret Island, he said.
The Budapest transport company BKV is piling up sandbags at the Batthyány tér metro station, which will be closed temporarily. Also, the suburban railway tunnel at Batthyány Square will also be closed, among other shutdowns around the river such as the pedestrian and bicycle underpass at Clark Ádám tér.
An operational staff meeting is being held today at the interior ministry, where Karácsony said he will brief government representatives.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also expressed his thoughts regarding the situation at a press conference today, where he emphasized that the hardest phase of flood protection, expected to last until next Thursday, is underway.
The peak of the flood wave entered Hungary on Tuesday night, he said on Wednesday, adding that the water authorities, disaster management, army, the interior ministry, and volunteers will be working to protect areas affected by the flood wave from western parts of the country right until it passes from Hungary into Serbia.
“This period is the hardest part … it will last for about a week or eight days from today,” he said, adding that the peak of the flood wave at the southern border was expected to flow beyond Hungarian territory next Thursday.
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