Heavy flooding in Romania, famous salt mine threatened

Hundreds of people in the center and northeast of the country have been evacuated by emergency services. No information is yet available about possible victims.

View images of the floods here:

Authorities have closed the Praid salt mine, one of Europe's largest salt reserves, which is visited by half a million tourists each year. A river near the mine has burst its banks due to heavy rain, and water is flowing into the mine. This poses a risk of the salt mine collapsing.

Emergency services have built two emergency dams in the mine to keep the water out, but one has already burst. More rain is expected in the region in the coming days.

Last year, scientists warned that climate change would make parts of central Europe more likely to be hit by floods caused by heavy rain. "Unless we stop burning fossil fuels, these rainfall events and the associated flooding will only get worse," one of the scientists said at the time.