The Praid Salt mine is not only of economic importance to Romania, it is also a major tourism magnet, attracting approximately half-a-million tourists annually.
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Strong winds and heavy rains over the past two days have caused severe flooding in various parts of Romania.
Emergency services said that hundreds of people have been evacuated from Covasna and Brasov counties in central Romania and Botosani in the north east.
On Thursday, floods were threatening to destroy an old salt mine in Praid, in central Romania.
The mine hosts beautiful galleries and a religious chapel and is an important tourist attraction, selling half a million tickets yearly.
More rainfall was expected in the coming days over parts of northern Romania, officials said.
The Corund River passes over the Praid Salt Mine. Following the heavy rains of the last few days, its water flow has reached the highest level in the last decades. 60 cubic meters per second.
The sudden increase of the flow caused cracks to appear in the riverbed protection wall, and the water infiltrated the gallery network in the salt mine, and compromised the stability of the support salt pillars and the safety of the underground facilities.**
Authorities have built two protection dams underground in the salt mine, to protect the tourist and mining areas. But the National Salt Company announced that the dam in the Telegdy mine had collapsed.