“We are here and this is a clear sign that the state continues to stand behind the decision to support the population in disaster areas”. This was said by the Minister of Environment and Water Rositsa Karamfilova in the village of Karavelovo, where she visited together with the Minister of Regional Development Ivan Shishkov and the Minister of Agriculture Yavor Gechev to get acquainted with the situation in the villages of Bogdan and Karavelovo, which had declared a partial emergency situation.

“I have sent teams from the Basin Directorate ‘Eastern Aegean Region’ - Plovdiv to be on duty in the coming days along the tributaries of the river,” said the Minister and added: “On-site monitoring is necessary to identify additional measures and jointly with the Ministry of Agriculture to take adequate and rapid actions, if necessary. The National Institute on Metrology and Hydrology is monitoring and there is up-to-date information on their webpage - the expectations are for minimal precipitation, the snow cover is minimal and after Monday the situation will calm down. There is no danger of disasters, and if such arises, appropriate actions will be taken immediately.”

“Now we are talking about long-term investments with public funds, which requires transparent procedures and clear compliance with the relevant rules. At the beginning of the disaster, we took urgent actions, which Water Act allowed,” Rositsa Karamfilova said in response to questions from the media about the reasons why actions could not be taken more quickly. She reminded that after the disaster last year, the risky sections were inspected and one of them was located right here by the river. The obstructing trees have been cleaned by the municipality, but now more actions are needed to clean the sediments caused by the currents and the slope of the river.