Flooded areas more stable; 30,000 evacuated

Flooded areas more stable; 30,000 evacuated

BELGRADE -- The Serbian Interior Ministry (MUP) announced on Tuesday morning that so far 30,873 people have been evacuated from their homes threatened by the floods.

Of that number, 13,603 had to escape the town of Obrenovac, southwest of Belgrade, where fresh evacuations were ordered yesterday and overnight as the Sava River broke its levee in several locations.

15,000 sandbags were placed along the Nikola Tesla power plants A and B yesterday, while food and drinking water are still needed in the municipality.

Upstream on the Sava, the situation in the town of Šabac is described as more stable than during the past days, but "still serious."

In Kostolac in the east, home to a thermal power plant, specialist teams from France, the Czech Republic and Germany were deployed and the situation is "kept under control."

Some villages near Šid are meanwhile being evacuated and flood defenses built along the Sava, where 33 trucks carrying sand, mostly from Novi Sad, arrived yesterday.

Smederevska Palanka (Tanjug)

On Monday, it was officially announced that the death toll from the disastrous flooding now stood at 20 people - 13 perished in Obrenovac, two in Krupanj in western Serbia, and five elsewhere in the country.

The situation has been difficult for days in the flooded towns of Smederevska Palanka, Ljig, Krupanj, Paraćin, Svilajnac, Bajina Bašta, Mali Zvornik. Many residents do not have water or electricity supplies, and lack hygiene products.

Areas hit by landslides require fuel, machines, and other materials.

The MUP also announced that bags used to build sand barriers along the rivers were needed.