Freak Floods Wreak More Havoc in Balkans

Heavy rain is again causing turmoil in the Western Balkan region, causing floods and damage in Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia.

In Bosnia, homes have been buried underground due to landslides while others are flooded. In the northwestern town of Banja Luka a state of emergency has been proclaimed and around a hundred buildings are underwater.

Hundreds of other homes in Bosnia are flooded, with the situation reported worst in the Lukavac and Gracania region. Lake Modrac near Lukavac has risen and many local streams are swirling around houses and through streets.

“Several places are cut off, and the crews are in the field,” the mayor of Lukavac, Dzevad Mujkic, said. “The dam on the Modrac is still not critical, but the rain keeps on falling.”

Several hundred people in Bosnia have been evacuated from their homes, mostly in Gracanica, near Tuzla, while many roads are blocked.

In Zavidovici, near Zenica, many landslides were reported while areas around Sarajevo were also flooded.

In Serbia, the situation is most critical in the Majdanpek area of eastern Serbia, where floods struck several places. The daily Blic newspaper reported that floodwater had carried away bridges and left many houses cut off.

“We are fighting the rain for days - and we did not succeed in clearing up the problems it caused us the first time,”  Majdanpek official Drasko Cetkovic said, referring to the torrential floods in May.

Flooding was also reported in Kosjerac and in other parts of western Serbia such as Loznica, and other areas in central Serbia.

In Croatia, a state of natural disaster was proclaimed in Slatina, in the north of the country, where around a hundred houses and much farmland are...