The level of the Danube river in Bulgaria has risen 20 cm over the past 24 hours to 900 cm, submerging some urban areas and threatening further destruction.

The situation of cities along the river, such as Vidin, remains very serious, according to a report by Bulgaria's Maintenance and Research Agency of Danube on Tuesday.

Due to the floods from upriver Hungary and Serbia, a huge wave is rushing down into Bulgarian territory. The Danube has continued to rise there since last weekend, especially in Vidin city, where the government has announced a second-level alarm, with the river only 20 cm away from the critical level, the same amount it has risen in the last 24 hours.

Some parts of the city have already been submerged by 20-80 cm of water.

A dyke with 2,000 sand bags was built on Monday in Vidin and another dyke was strengthened.

"None of the local government departments have declared a situation of emergency yet, and the supply of water, electricity and gas is functioning well all over the country," reported the country's Emergency Minister, Emel Etem, adding that the government would closely monitor the situation and broadcast an hourly report on the condition of the Danube.

It was the highest level the Danube had reached in the past 15 years, commented experts, predicting that it might climb to 930 cm by Wednesday.

An evacuation would be carried out if the water rose over 950cm, said officials in Vidin.

Some areas in neighbouring Romania had declared a state of emergency days ago.

Source:Xinhua