Rain and snow cause flooding, damage power lines

Rain and snow cause flooding, damage power lines

Maric explained that the areas that were flooded spread along undefended rivers that break their banks with heavy rain.

He also appealed on citizens, particularly in Obrenovac, "not to panic."

"We were in the field, we took aerial photographs and there's no reason to deceive anyone, we didn't do that in May either. There's no reason to panic, the situation cannot compare to that in May."

He said that Friday was "calmer" than the night before, bu that his service will remain on alert and standby until Saturday. Maric observed that local authorities have been acting "more seriously" than before because they worked preventively to clean the canals.

He noted that there were "problems" during the evacuation in Koceljeva, and that for this reason, the Law on Emergency Situations will be changed in May. It was reported on Friday morning that snow had caused damage to power lines leaving about 30,000 citizens in the Zlatibor District without electricity.

The Interior Ministry (MUP) announced late on Thursday that heavy rain which started on Wednesday caused damage, mostly in western Serbia.

The MUP said that members of the Emergency Situations Sector along with other services were deployed in the areas experiencing heavy precipitation, where they monitor the situation and remain on standby.

A statement said that Novi Pazar and Kraljevo were not in danger of flooding, while the Zapadna Morava river water level had risen slightly, but remained under the regular flood defense procedures mark.

The town of Krupanj, that suffered extensive damage during the catastrophic flooding last May, was left without electricity on Thursday.

Traffic was disrupted on the Sabac-Zavlaka road, also in western Serbia, due to the damage the water did to a bridge.

The Crnica River near Banja Badanja flooded about 30 buildings with water rising from 30 centimeters to one meter, but was receding last night, while firefighters had to evacuate two citizens.

More trouble was reported in western Serbia where households in Loznica, Ljubovija and Krupanj were left without electricity due to the malfunctioning of the Mali Zvornik-Valjevo power lines.

Sandbags defenses have been set up in the town of Ub in anticipation of possible flooding.