site.btaMedia Review: September 7

THE FLOOD

Thursday’s media provide a detailed coverage of the situation in the flooded settlements on the southern Black Sea coast that were devastated by torrential rain on Tuesday.

The flood claimed four lives. There is no information of missing people. Drainage continues and clearing of settlements begins.

All elements of the temporary metal structure to be built on the Tsarevo-Ahtopol road are to be transported today. An excavator is also expected to help dismantle the compromised bridge, and then the installation of the metal bridge will begin.

The water supply in the village of Lozenets has been restored. The electricity in the camping site "Arapya" has been turned on. Damage inspections are yet to be carried out, bTV reports.

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"The army has been here since last night. We will rely on the military engineers to help us with the restoration of the bridge structures in the municipality. We plan to build a temporary facility to provide pedestrian access," said Tsarevo Mayor Georgi Lapchev, Trud and bTV reported.

According to him, experts suspect that seven bridges may be compromised, including the one on the road between Tsarevo and Malko Tarnovo. The facility is to be surveyed. The draining of water from the dams is continuing. The crisis headquarters has decided to drain it completely because the dam walls are damaged and must be renovated. 

Currently, the activities in the municipality have moved into the second stage - the restoration of infrastructure and the clearing of the most critical areas. This is being done together with the help of volunteers, the mayor said.

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“It is not only nature that is to blame for this disaster, the causes are complex. In this case, however, the amount of rainfall that fell was extremely high,” said on BNT Chief Commissioner Alexander Dzhartov, head of the General Directorate for Fire Safety and Population Protection. 

"There is no infrastructure that can absorb such amounts of water. For this reason it is very important that we be more prepared as a society. These phenomena will happen. We cannot avoid them. So it is very important to know what we can do before such an event happens, during the event and after the event," Dzhartov explained. 

Firefighters have already drained all the residential buildings for which there were reports, and today they will continue with draining garages and ground floors of hotels, he added.

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After the flood, photos have emerged that reveal things that were previously unsuspected. According to bTV viewers, the disaster on the beaches in Kiten and Nestinarka has uncovered drain pipes.

Former environment ministers Emil Dimitrov and Borislav Sandov commented the case on bTV.

"This is actually a deep water discharge, which in this case is shallow water. This is the reason why there are certain measurements that show a high level of Escherichia coli. People didn't know that there was a pipe 50 metres out to sea," Dimitrov explained.

"There are not enough sewage treatment plants along the South Black Sea coast and no well-organised sewage system, nor is there the will to build it. While I was minister none of the municipalities submitted documents to receive funding to build such a station. This kind of thing with pipes should not be happening," Sandov added.

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bTV sheds a spotlight on an act of courage and professionalism during the recent flood, as recounted by a woman who was stranded in her car with her family by the rising waters near the Tsarevo bridge.

"In front of us there was a 10-metre river, 1.5 m deep. Behind us - the same. All those cars were perched on a hill, somewhere just before Tsarevo. Underneath, there were the rocks and the sea with 2-3 metre high waves. And amid all this - one policeman," says Ivelina Elmazova from Gabrovo.

The police officer is 31-year-old junior traffic controller Rumen Kolev from the Tsarevo district police station.

"He was walking from car to car, bending down, talking to everyone, smiling. At one time, he brought out his water bottle, and gave it to a thirsty child, two cars ahead of us. This guy had a patrol car. He didn't go inside, he didn't sit down the whole time. He said he had been like that since 4 o'clock in the morning. He was so wet, so serene, so calm," says the grateful woman from Gabrovo.

Officer Kolev has been working in the Interior Ministry system for six years. Of the 40 or so stranded cars there, no people were injured.

“On behalf of all of us who were there, trapped in those cars. This man was an angel in uniform," she added.

POLITICS

The regular cabinet of Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria and GERB-UDF has now been in office for three months, 24 Chasa writes. On this occasion, Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov will answer questions from citizens and media on Facebook Thursday.

This is the first cabinet in the history of the country to have a rotating prime minister. In exactly six months, GERB’s Mariya Gabriel is to take the prime minister's seat, the daily reminds.

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The fifth consecutive protest demanding strict measures against drunk and drugged drivers is being organized Thursday evening in Sofia, 24 Chasa reports.

Relatives and friends of the 15-year-old boy who died on Saturday on a pedestrian walkway in the centre of Sofia gathered once again Wednesday night for a silent vigil on the pedestrian walkway at the intersection of Gurko and Shishman streets.

They suggest that the law be changed.

The crash happened on Saturday around 9 pm. Police said the 37-year-old driver had a blood alcohol level of 0.2% and made no attempt to slow before the accident happened. The intoxicated man had only driven 400 metres before he hit and killed the boy. 

The car, a Mercedes E-Class, was carrying a woman and a child who were not in a family relationship with the driver. The woman knew the man had been drinking but did not stop him getting behind the wheel because he did not appear to be unfit. The vehicle was not in her name or the driver's. It is still being determined who it belongs to.

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BNR reports that MPs will discuss at first reading four separate bills for amendments to the Road Traffic Act, three of them submitted by CC-DB, and one by GERB-UDF. The first group of amendments provides for the introduction of restrictive measures for new drivers who have acquired licences category B and B1.

It is proposed that within one year they will be banned from driving a car with more than 120 horsepower, as well as from driving at night between the hours of 10 pm and 6 am. Other amendments would oblige enforcement authorities to stop drivers on the road and serve undelivered electronic tickets and fines to drivers who have more than five undelivered tickets.

Another idea is to impose a 12-month driving ban and a fine of BGN 3,000 for drivers who break the rules for railway crossing. The amendments introduced by GERB-UDF also give municipalities the possibility to control the traffic rules, as they will have the right to use a greater number of technical means of control.

MISCELLANEOUS

Dnevnik runs an article about Russia’s influence through social networks in Bulgaria. Moderators of Twitter's (X’s) Bulgarian-language content have stopped in an experiment only 4% of content posted that was deliberately composed as Russian propaganda so as to violate the company's criteria for what is allowed on this platform. When reporting, nearly two-thirds (62%) of moderators received a response that there was no policy violation, and another 34% received no response at all. 

In another experiment, Facebook removed 28% of reported comments in Bulgarian that contradicted the rules of conduct. But even that looks very good compared to YouTube's close to zero response, where comments reported in 2022 have been standing untouched for months, and perhaps they are still there to date.

The Facebook accounts of influential public figures in Bulgaria expressing openly pro-Ukrainian views have also been inexplicably blocked or suspended, possibly as a result of mass reporting in 2022 by Russian disinformation networks, the article reads.

This is according to the authors of an independent study for the European Commission, designed to assess the effectiveness of the measures against Russian disinformation on major online platforms according to the Digital Services Act's (DSA) risk management principles and risk mitigation requirements.

Six platforms are covered in the study: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok and Telegram.

The Kremlin's ongoing disinformation campaign is not only an integral part of Russia's military agenda, but also poses risks to public security, fundamental rights and the electoral processes in the European Union, the analysis says.

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BNR reports that the Bulgarian men's national football team will face Iran in a friendly match. The match will take place at the Hristo Botev Stadium in Plovdiv Thursday evening at 7 pm. Bulgaria's duel with Iran is a dress rehearsal for the national team ahead of the visit of Montenegro in a European qualifier on Sunday, September 10. Bulgaria is fourth in Group G with an asset of two points from four matches played - the Montenegrins are third with four points and have two matches less than the Bulgarians.