Patients evacuated from major Riga hospital flooded by heavy rain

Heavy rainfalls on Wednesday partly flooded Pauls Stradins Clinical University Hospital in the Latvian capital of Riga, prompting the evacuation of patients from affected areas, public media website lsm.lv reported.

Latvia has been hit by heavy and incessant rainfalls since Tuesday.

The hospital's administration said that the downpour flooded a ward on the first floor of the hospital's Bloc 24, damaging the floor. Patients were moved from the affected ward to other buildings of the hospital.

The flooded building has been closed and the access to it has been restricted. It will reopen after experts determine its technical condition and necessary repairs are made.

The hospital's Block 24 was renovated in 1996. The administration has repeatedly alerted Latvian health authorities of the hospital buildings' poor technical condition and the necessity to allocate financing for maintenance and renovation.

Source : XINHUA