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Clogged by masses of ice, the Pärnu River has broken out of its bed and flooded numerous homes in Sindi town upstream of the southwestern city of Pärnu.
Pärnu River swells, floods homes in Sindi
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The mass of ice that started moving from the Sindi dam at noon on Wednesday has blocked the river and raised the water level in Sindi, spokespeople for the rescue center for Western Estonia told BNS. If around noon on Wednesday the water flooded buildings in the area of the Sindi dam, then by the evening it had reached private homes of the Linnuriigi district situated next to the river. Water rose to the levels of basements on Wednesday and had entered several buildings by Thursday.
Rescuers and the police brought five persons and domestic animals to safety from one building. Nobody has been injured as a result of the floods.
The police have closed access roads to prevent the arrival of cars and people wishing to have a glimpse of the play of forces of nature.
Residents of the area started preparations for a flood already on Wednesday, taking their belongings from the ground level to higher levels of buildings and moving cars to safety. The same area has had problems with raising water levels of the river also in previous years, the spokespeople said.
They added that the scale of the blockage and instability of the accumulated ice posed a problem, making it impossible to set the ice moving by means of explosions. Pärnu River is covered with ice downstream from the flooded area to the bridge in the Pärnu city center.