Three-day national mourning, danger still present

Three-day national mourning, danger still present

BELGRADE -- Flags are flying at half-mast in Serbia as the nation observes three days of mourning for those who lost their lives in the worst flooding in over a century.

Although the situation is currently stable at all flood hotspots, there is still danger that the Sava and Danube rivers may burst their banks and that water could surge from Croatia.

The interior ministry announced on Wednesday that around 32,000 people had so far been evacuated from the flood-affected areas, 24,000 of them from the Belgrade municipality of Obrenovac that was worst hit by the floods.

According to the latest data, a flood surge along the Dobrava river claimed the life of an elderly woman from the village of Orid near Sabac who did not want to flee the house, while another person died in the flood surge that hit Svilajnac, central Serbia.

On the first day of the catastrophic floods, two people were reported dead, and on Tuesday the Serbian prime minister said that 14 victims had so far been found in Obrenovac, and the autopsy is yet to confirm how many of them actually drowned.

In the territory of Serbia, 2,260 public, industrial and infrastructure facilities were flooded, 3,500 roads were destroyed, and nearly 1,800 put at risk.

The clearing of the flood-affected areas began on Tuesday with preparations for the repair of the damage and rebuilding.

The floods that have hit Serbia will have a devastating effect on the environment, but major environmental accidents in the form of industrial pollution have been avoided, Environmental Protection Agency Director Filip Radović said.

Over the past three days, continuous efforts have been...