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Ukraine parliament examines floods after 30 dead


    KIEV (Reuters) - Floods in western Ukraine have killed 30 people and prompted the evacuation of nearly 18,000, officials said on Thursday, after five days of rain caused rivers to spill over into villages and farmland.

    Emergencies Minister Volodymyr Shandra announced the deathtoll in a parliamentary debate convened to discuss compensationand changes to the budget. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko toldthe chamber 18,000 residents had fled their homes.

    Figures earlier this week said 22 had died, including sixchildren and two people struck by lightning. A senior ministerdescribed the flooding as the worst in a century, with the Prutand Dnestr Rivers rising to dangerous levels.

    Deputies endorsed a decree President Viktor Yuschchenko'sdecree declaring six regions "emergency ecological zones".

    They then examined two proposals for compensation -- onesubmitted by Yushchenko, the other by Tymoshenko.

    The two politicians, allies during the 2004 "OrangeRevolution" that brought pro-Western liberals to power, havebeen at odds over a long list of issues since Tymoshenko wasappointed premier for a second time last year.

    The prime minister sought an additional 2.3 billionhryvnias (248 million pounds) to be raised by higher exciserates for tobacco and alcohol and land taxes. The presidentproposed 4 billion hryvnias through increases in value addedtax.

    In neighbouring Romania, four people died in floods in thenortheastern county of Maramures. The Bucharest government putup 50 million lei (11 million pounds) this week to rebuilddamaged infrastructure and provide aid to affected villagers.

    (Writing by Ron Popeski; editing by Philippa Fletcher)