Turkey battles floods, eyes early warning system

ANKARA, Mar 15 (Reuters) Turkey today said it was working with neighbouring Bulgaria on an early flood warning system as Turkish troops and emergency services battled flood waters in the border town of Edirne.

Turkish television showed tanks driving through streets flooded with water from the nearby rivers of Tunca, Arda and Meric. Soldiers distributed food aid to stranded citizens.

Farmland and villages in Bulgaria and Greece were also badly affected by some of the worst flooding in 15 years, triggered by heavy snow and rainfall.

''We are working with Bulgaria to set up a joint commission that would operate an early warning system to prevent any repetition of this situation, which can be called a natural disaster,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Namik Tan told reporters.

Earlier, Edirne officials said Bulgaria had exacerbated an already difficult situation by releasing water from a dam near the border. Turkish media later reported Bulgaria had closed the dam again at Ankara's request.

''Bulgarian officials have assured us they are taking every possible measure to prevent harm and losses to neighbouring countries,'' Tan said, adding that Bulgaria's many dams had only a limited capacity.

He said the flooding had underlined the importance of a dam to be built on the Meric river (known as the Maritza in Bulgaria) by the two countries.

Bulgarian officials said 13 dams in the south of the country near the Greek and Turkish borders were overflowing. Scores of people have had to leave their homes and farmland, they said.

But the Maritza had fallen by a metre from its highest level, officials said. The river flows from the Bulgarian mountains southwards to define the Greek-Turkish border.

''The situation in the most affected areas... is starting to normalise,'' the Bulgarian interior ministry said in a statement.

In Greece, local official Nikos Zambounidis told Reuters desperate villagers had crossed illegally into Turkish territory overnight with sandbags to fortify a burst riverbank and avert major flooding of their homes.

The action averted the need to evacuate 2,500 people from their homes in and around the Greek village of Nea Vissa, just across the border from Edirne, Zambounidis said.

''This was not a coordinated or joint effort. This was an act of desperate people,'' Zambounidis said.

''We are cautiously optimistic today, but the water is still at record levels,'' he added.

REUTERS SHR RN2140