Floods in recent days have claimed the lives of 22 people in Romania and more than 7,000 others were forced to flee their homes to safety, according to the official data presented Wednesday.

Roads and farmland are submerged after Jijia river flooding due to heavy rains in Botosani in northeast of Romania, June 30, 2010. Floods in recent days have claimed 22 lives in Romania and more than 7,000 people were forced to flee their homes to safety, according to the official data presented Wednesday. [Agerpres/Xinhua]

Unstoppable rain and floods caused havoc in many parts of Romania, the latest government data show that 206 homes have been destroyed and 2,917 ones flooded.

Train traffic was closed in several areas in northern, eastern, central and eastern Romania because of the recent floods, the National Railway Company CFR SA announced on Wednesday in a release, adding that speed restrictions were also introduced in certain areas.

At the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Prime Minister Emil Boc ordered all ministers to go to flood affected areas and prefects on vacation to go back to work immediately.

According to Interior Minister Vasile Blaga, procedures have been started to access the EU Solidarity Fund, which becomes available in two instances: large-scale disasters that cause direct damage in excess of 3 billion euros, which is not the case with Romania, or when the damage inflicted exceeds 0.6 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), where Romania qualifies.

The meteorologists have prolonged the Code Yellow alert for heavy rains until Thursday, for almost the entire eastern half of Romania.