The State Hydrometeorological Service has issued a yellow heat warning for 22 June, with highs of up to 35 degrees across the Republic of Moldova. Against this backdrop, the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (IGSU) has sent out a set of recommendations that fall into three parts: what to do about water, about fire and about your own health. For a district like Ungheni, with the Prut on its border, Lake Delia and dozens of ponds across the villages, the first of these is also the most serious.
Water: two lifeguarded beaches, the rest at your own risk
The figure that shows the scale of the danger comes from IGSU: from the start of 2026 to 19 June, 18 people drowned in the country’s waters, two of them children. In all of 2025 there were 56 drownings, 12 of them minors. Summer has only just begun, and the heat pushes people towards the water exactly when vigilance drops.
In the town of Ungheni, the swimming season opened officially on 21 June, by the mayor’s order. Worth remembering: in the whole town there are only two arranged swimming spots supervised by lifeguards — the beach on the Prut river and the one on Lake Delia. Any other water in the district — ponds, pools, unarranged stretches of the Prut — remains at your own risk. For context, across Moldova only around 19 beaches are equipped with a lifeguard post, so two in a single town are something of an exception.
IGSU repeats a few rules that seem trivial until they are not: swim only in arranged and supervised places; do not enter the water abruptly after sitting in the sun, to avoid thermal shock; do not drink alcohol before or while swimming; never leave children unsupervised for a moment. And the quality of the water is the responsibility of the National Agency for Public Health (ANSP), which discourages swimming in unauthorized lakes.
Fire: dry vegetation catches from nothing
IGSU’s second recommendation concerns fire. In a heatwave, stubble, grass and dry reeds catch from a single spark, and the Ungheni district is no bystander. This spring alone, firefighters put out in the district, within a few days, vegetation fires across dozens of hectares. That is why the rescuers’ appeal is direct: avoid open fire near farmland, forests and areas with dry vegetation. At any sign of a fire — 112.
Health: who is most exposed and what helps
The third part concerns the body. ANSP points out that we do not all bear the heat the same way: most exposed are the elderly, the chronically and cardiac ill, newborns and small children, pregnant women and those who work outdoors. The recommendations are simple and apply to everyone — avoid the sun between 11.00 and 17.00, stay constantly hydrated, around two to three litres of fluids a day, no coffee or alcohol, light and light-coloured clothing, an aired home.
One warning is repeated every summer and every summer proves necessary: children and animals are never left alone in a parked car, not even “for a minute”. At the first signs of heatstroke — dizziness, nausea, confusion — call the family doctor or 112 directly.
The yellow-code warning and the temperature range come from the State Hydrometeorological Service; the recommendations on water, fire and health come from the official statements of IGSU and the National Agency for Public Health. The drowning data are those communicated by IGSU on 19 June 2026. The number and location of Ungheni’s arranged beaches come from the mayor’s order on the opening of the 2026 summer season.