Mali: Belgrade protected from surging Sava, Danube

BELGRADE - Belgrade Mayor Sinisa Mali stated on Tuesday morning that sandbag levees have been put up on the banks of the Sava and the Danube near Zemunski Kej, an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, thus protecting the capital from flood surge.

Mali said at a meeting at the Belgrade Chamber of Commerce that the level of the Danube River is 610 centimeters at the moment, and it is expected to reach flood peak of 690 centimeters by Friday.

He said that Belgrade is defended along 12 km of the Sava banks, adding that the sandbag barricades are even higher than suggested by the public waterworks company Beogradvode.

The level of the Sava River is 572 centimeters, which is two meters below the critical point, and flood peak is expected to reach 652 centimeters by Friday, which is also below the height of the sandbag walls.

“I believe that the situation is under control,” the mayor said, and thanked volunteers and everyone who offered great help in building the barricades on the Danube and Sava banks.

Commenting on the situation in Obrenovac, an outer suburb of Belgrade, Mali said that the priority was to evacuate the most vulnerable people, stressing that saving lives was of the utmost importance.

There are 4,500 in Belgrade reception centers at this point, and another 10,000 citizens have already left the centers and went to their families and friends, he said.

Mali said that over 40 reception centers have been established with teams of physicians, pediatricians and psychologists in each of them.

Photo Tanjug Video, camera operator Ivan Pavlovic