Floods In Romania Claim Five Lives

Floods caused by weeks of heavy downpours have killed five people in Romania, police said Tuesday.

Two men, ages 45 and 54, died Monday when the horse-drawn cart they were riding in was swept away by a torrent of water near Zarnesti, a small town in central Romania, said Maj. Emil Rada.

The bodies of three men in their 20s were found in a tributary of the Danube River, authorities said Tuesday. They had disappeared late last month after leaving a bar in the eastern port of Tulcea.

Thousands of houses have been damaged in the floods, caused by heavy rainstorms this summer that have destroyed roads and submerged farmland throughout Romania.

Northwestern Romania has been especially hard hit. In the past few weeks, 17 people have died.