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A massive storm has dumped record rainfalls on the Balkans, causing severe flooding, especially in Serbia, and parts of Croatia and Bosnia. Schools have been closed in Serbia, where several people have drowned.
Serbian declared a nationwide flood emergency on Thursday and asked the EU and Russia for help. Entire towns were cut off. The slow-moving cyclone is forecast to persist until the weekend.
Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said his country was facing its "biggest water catastrophe in Serbia's history."
Meteorologists forecast that triple Serbia's average rainfall for May was expected to fall within just two-and-a-half days until Friday noon.
Residents of Maglaj, 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Belgrade, sat on roofs. Across Serbia, 100,000 households were without electricity.
Schools in the Serbian capital were closed for Thursday and Friday. Major traffic routes, such as the E-75 Belgrade-Skopje highway, were submerged. Serbia's rail link to Montenegro was severed.
Waters are rising everywhere," said Serbian emergency official Predrag Maric. "We have engaged all our manpower."
At least three people were killed in Serbia, including a woman whom firefighters said had drowned after she refused to be evacuated.
Storm also grips Bosnia, Croatia
In Bosnia, to the west, bridges were swept away by swollen rivers. The central Bosnian town of Topcic Polje, near Zenica, was bisected by landslides and raging waters (pictured).
The Sarajevo government ordered the deployment of army helicopters for evacuations.
High winds reaching 150 kilometers per hour forced the closure of sections of Croatia's Adriatic coastal highway.
Thousands of Croatian households have also been without power since Wednesday.
Croatia's meteorological service issued a "red alert," saying winds were powerful enough to carry debris at deadly speed.
The storm, a slow-moving cyclone, bringing sharp drops in temperature, is expected to drift to the east over the Balkans and then south to the eastern Mediterranean by the weekend.
Storm floods Balkans, Serbia declares emergency | News | DW.DE | 15.05.2014
Bosnia, Serbia hit by worst flooding in 120 years; three die
(Reuters) - The heaviest rains and floods in the past 120 years hit Bosnia and Serbia this week, killing three people, cutting off electricity and leaving several towns and villages isolated.
The three casualties, one of them a firefighter on a rescue mission, drowned in Serbia. The country declared a state of emergency in 18 towns and cities, including the capital, Belgrade.
Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday he would declare an emergency for the whole country at 1100 GMT.
"This is the greatest flooding disaster ever. Not only in the past 100 years; this has never happened in Serbia's history," Vucic told a news conference. "More rain fell in one day than in four months."
In Bosnia, army helicopters evacuated dozens of people stranded in their homes in the central town of Maglaj, where the Bosna river swelled to record levels, reaching the first floors of apartment buildings.
Special police were trying to reach the northern Bosnian town of Doboj, which was cut off from the rest of the country after all major roads out were flooded.
The Bosnian government ordered the defense ministry to use troops to help thousands of civilians whose homes were engulfed by water, particularly in the central and eastern regions.
"This is the worst rainfall in Bosnia since 1894, when weather measurements started to be recorded," said Zeljko Majstorovic, a Sarajevo meteorologist. He said the rain, which began on Tuesday, would continue until the end of the week.
Many roads were deluged and towns and villages completely cut off. Schools were closed across both countries.
Serbian Energy Minister Aleksandar Antic said power supplies were cut to around 100,000 households, mostly in central Serbia.
Serbia's power company, Elektroprivreda Srbije, said it had mobilized teams to monitor the situation on the ground. Flooding had disrupted production in two coal mines supplying major thermal plants, the company said.
A major highway from Belgrade to Macedonia and Bulgaria was flooded and the traffic interrupted. The main south-bound railway line to Montenegro's port of Bar was also closed down.
Bosnia's top utility, Elektroprivreda BiH, said at least 5,000 households were without electricity in the central and eastern parts of the country.
Bosnia, Serbia hit by worst flooding in 120 years; three die| Reuters
Flood-Hit Serbia Seeks Aid From Russia, EU in Record Rain
Serbia declared a state of emergency and asked Russia, the European Union and Slovenia to send humanitarian and technical assistance after three days of record rainfall triggered floods that have killed five people.
Rising rivers forced hundreds from their homes and blocked traffic on the main roads to neighbors Montenegro and Macedonia. Power outages hit thousands of homes and utility Elektroprivreda Srbije JP said it may have to import electricity after flooding forced it to halt work at the open-pit coal mines that feed Serbia’s biggest thermal plants.
Hydro-electric dams switched to emergency mode as water levels on the Danube and the Drina rivers swelled, leading to controlled overflows at the country’s biggest facility Djerdap, the utility said. In western Serbia, the Drina river was swollen by record water volumes, and the country’s government urged citizens to listen to rescuers and evacuate.
“You can’t fight nature,” Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic told a meeting of the crisis committee, according to state TV broadcaster RTS. “If you don’t listen to the rescuers, you risk your own life and and theirs.”
The government closed schools and asked the nation’s Commodity Reserve Agency to send 1,000 tons of corn to feed cattle in affected areas, mainly in western Serbia, toward Bosnia, which was also suffering from heavy floods. Bosnian army units evacuated people in the Maglaj area, where several bridges were under water, according to newspaper Dnevni avaz.
Rain over the next two days will beat any previous record, the Serbian weather service said. Belgrade, the capital, saw 108 liters of rain per square meter over 24 hours, Sanja Babic, the weather forecaster at the Serbian Hydro-meteorological Service, said by phone today.
It was the most in a single day “since the mid-19th century,” when measurements started, she said, and compared to a monthly record of 169 liters. Rainfall this month has so far reached 144 liters, she said.
Flood-Hit Serbia Seeks Aid From Russia, EU in Record Rain - Bloomberg
Serbian declared a nationwide flood emergency on Thursday and asked the EU and Russia for help. Entire towns were cut off. The slow-moving cyclone is forecast to persist until the weekend.
Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said his country was facing its "biggest water catastrophe in Serbia's history."
Meteorologists forecast that triple Serbia's average rainfall for May was expected to fall within just two-and-a-half days until Friday noon.
Residents of Maglaj, 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Belgrade, sat on roofs. Across Serbia, 100,000 households were without electricity.
Schools in the Serbian capital were closed for Thursday and Friday. Major traffic routes, such as the E-75 Belgrade-Skopje highway, were submerged. Serbia's rail link to Montenegro was severed.
Waters are rising everywhere," said Serbian emergency official Predrag Maric. "We have engaged all our manpower."
At least three people were killed in Serbia, including a woman whom firefighters said had drowned after she refused to be evacuated.
Storm also grips Bosnia, Croatia
In Bosnia, to the west, bridges were swept away by swollen rivers. The central Bosnian town of Topcic Polje, near Zenica, was bisected by landslides and raging waters (pictured).
The Sarajevo government ordered the deployment of army helicopters for evacuations.
High winds reaching 150 kilometers per hour forced the closure of sections of Croatia's Adriatic coastal highway.
Thousands of Croatian households have also been without power since Wednesday.
Croatia's meteorological service issued a "red alert," saying winds were powerful enough to carry debris at deadly speed.
The storm, a slow-moving cyclone, bringing sharp drops in temperature, is expected to drift to the east over the Balkans and then south to the eastern Mediterranean by the weekend.
Storm floods Balkans, Serbia declares emergency | News | DW.DE | 15.05.2014
Bosnia, Serbia hit by worst flooding in 120 years; three die
(Reuters) - The heaviest rains and floods in the past 120 years hit Bosnia and Serbia this week, killing three people, cutting off electricity and leaving several towns and villages isolated.
The three casualties, one of them a firefighter on a rescue mission, drowned in Serbia. The country declared a state of emergency in 18 towns and cities, including the capital, Belgrade.
Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday he would declare an emergency for the whole country at 1100 GMT.
"This is the greatest flooding disaster ever. Not only in the past 100 years; this has never happened in Serbia's history," Vucic told a news conference. "More rain fell in one day than in four months."
In Bosnia, army helicopters evacuated dozens of people stranded in their homes in the central town of Maglaj, where the Bosna river swelled to record levels, reaching the first floors of apartment buildings.
Special police were trying to reach the northern Bosnian town of Doboj, which was cut off from the rest of the country after all major roads out were flooded.
The Bosnian government ordered the defense ministry to use troops to help thousands of civilians whose homes were engulfed by water, particularly in the central and eastern regions.
"This is the worst rainfall in Bosnia since 1894, when weather measurements started to be recorded," said Zeljko Majstorovic, a Sarajevo meteorologist. He said the rain, which began on Tuesday, would continue until the end of the week.
Many roads were deluged and towns and villages completely cut off. Schools were closed across both countries.
Serbian Energy Minister Aleksandar Antic said power supplies were cut to around 100,000 households, mostly in central Serbia.
Serbia's power company, Elektroprivreda Srbije, said it had mobilized teams to monitor the situation on the ground. Flooding had disrupted production in two coal mines supplying major thermal plants, the company said.
A major highway from Belgrade to Macedonia and Bulgaria was flooded and the traffic interrupted. The main south-bound railway line to Montenegro's port of Bar was also closed down.
Bosnia's top utility, Elektroprivreda BiH, said at least 5,000 households were without electricity in the central and eastern parts of the country.
Bosnia, Serbia hit by worst flooding in 120 years; three die| Reuters
Flood-Hit Serbia Seeks Aid From Russia, EU in Record Rain
Serbia declared a state of emergency and asked Russia, the European Union and Slovenia to send humanitarian and technical assistance after three days of record rainfall triggered floods that have killed five people.
Rising rivers forced hundreds from their homes and blocked traffic on the main roads to neighbors Montenegro and Macedonia. Power outages hit thousands of homes and utility Elektroprivreda Srbije JP said it may have to import electricity after flooding forced it to halt work at the open-pit coal mines that feed Serbia’s biggest thermal plants.
Hydro-electric dams switched to emergency mode as water levels on the Danube and the Drina rivers swelled, leading to controlled overflows at the country’s biggest facility Djerdap, the utility said. In western Serbia, the Drina river was swollen by record water volumes, and the country’s government urged citizens to listen to rescuers and evacuate.
“You can’t fight nature,” Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic told a meeting of the crisis committee, according to state TV broadcaster RTS. “If you don’t listen to the rescuers, you risk your own life and and theirs.”
The government closed schools and asked the nation’s Commodity Reserve Agency to send 1,000 tons of corn to feed cattle in affected areas, mainly in western Serbia, toward Bosnia, which was also suffering from heavy floods. Bosnian army units evacuated people in the Maglaj area, where several bridges were under water, according to newspaper Dnevni avaz.
Rain over the next two days will beat any previous record, the Serbian weather service said. Belgrade, the capital, saw 108 liters of rain per square meter over 24 hours, Sanja Babic, the weather forecaster at the Serbian Hydro-meteorological Service, said by phone today.
It was the most in a single day “since the mid-19th century,” when measurements started, she said, and compared to a monthly record of 169 liters. Rainfall this month has so far reached 144 liters, she said.
Flood-Hit Serbia Seeks Aid From Russia, EU in Record Rain - Bloomberg
