Residents of Nemteni and Cotul Morii villages blame the local authorities for the flooding as they allowed the owner of a nearby pond to take water from the Prut through pipes that weakened the barrage. As a result, it burst. “When the Prut water level rose to half, it was very convent for the owner of the pond to take water from the Prut. The pipes going through the barrage weakened it and it thus burst,” an inhabitant of Cotul Morii village of Hancesti district has told Info-Prim Neo. Asked to comment on these accusations in a news conference, Minister of the Interior Victor Catana said the ponds located near the Prut that were made by locals pose indeed dangers to the protection barrages. “In 2008, it was proved that the dams on the Prut and Nistru are old. Irrigation pipes were built through many of them. Another part of the barrages have been damaged by rats,” the minister said. In Cotul Morii, there were flooded 220 houses, while in the neighboring Nemteni - 216 houses. More than 1,000 residents have been evacuated.