Romanian Flood Victims Haunted By The Dam That Wasn't

At nearly 3 a.m. on a Saturday last month, 61-year-old Stefana Bodea was jolted awake by a clamor outside in Slobozia Conachi, her otherwise sleepy district nestled among carefully plowed fields astride the Suhurlui Creek in eastern Romania.

She could hear the bells of the Orthodox church, the roar of a civil siren from the local school, and, distinctly, the urgent shouts of Mayor Emil Dragomir outside her gate,