Fight continues to save lives in flood-stricken Serbia

Fight continues to save lives in flood-stricken Serbia

Around 5,500 people have been evacuated from Obrenovac alone, of whom 1,548 have been evacuated by 18:00 CET, most of them women, children and the elderly.

Head of the Emergency Situation Sector Predrag Marić told a news conference that the first victims have been recovered from water, but he added that the total number of victims will not be released until the flood subsides.

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Rasim Ljajić visited Obrenovac in boats together with rescuers from Novi Sad and stated that the entire municipality has to be evacuated because this is the only way to save human lives.

Adhering to the instructions issued by the Emergency Situation Sector, the Barič settlement in the vicinity of Obrenovac was successfully evacuated while the settlements on the bank of the Sava River, Umka (100 families) and Ostružnica (20 families), have been partly evacuated.

With the repair of the flood consequences in Obrenovac, top priority tasks comprise building flood defenses on the banks of the Sava River near Šabac and Sremska Mitrovica, Marić said.

Over 10,000 volunteers, including several hundred Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija, put up 7.3-meter high embankments in Šabac on Friday night. According to Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić, Serbia was "ready for the second wave of the floods."

In the Ub municipality, 4,000 households are still in danger but the municipality cannot be reached by land and citizens there need drinking water and medicines.

Around 200 houses were completely destroyed in Krupanj and the municipality has been cut off for two days now due to a mudslide. The Jadar River crashed the bridge on the road to Loznica, which is why it was only early on Saturday that the rescue teams managed to access the area.

The flood has withdrawn from half of Svilajnac but the situation remains very difficult, with no electricity or landline phone service. Around 1,000 people were evacuated from the area on Friday but many are still awaiting evacuation in nearby villages, which is why the Bulgarian rescue teams came to provide assistance to the people in the area.

Around 300 households were evacuated in Paraćin on Saturday where the floods endangered 15,000 people and 6,500 more in the nearby villages who are cut off from the rest of the world because of an interruption in telecommunication networks.

Thousands of people are still in danger from the floods and 61,000 people do not have electricity. Nevertheless, there are no power cuts in the rest of the country although the Electric Power Industry of Serbia (EPS) is working at 40 percent lower capacity.

The delivery of supplies to the vulnerable citizens is aggravated due to mudslides, landfalls and inaccessible local roads but more and more assistance is arriving from abroad and from local companies, organizations and citizens. Public figures, athletes and artists joined actions to raise assistance for the flooded areas.

“This is a catastrophe of biblical proportions. Half of the country is in danger of electricity cuts. Unfortunately, the awareness is lacking as to what is really happening in the areas. We need help,” world's second-ranked tennis player Novak Đokoviž said on his Twitter profile and called from help to the flood-hit population.