Floods claim lives, shut down roads, schools

Floods claim lives, shut down roads, schools

Earlier, one person who refused to evacuate from their home died as a consequence of flooding in Umčare, Belgrade. The body of another man was recovered from the Danube in Novi Sad. It is believed that he drowned last night.

During the day, reports from Leskovac in southern Serbia said that two elderly people perished in the storm overnight.

The situation is difficult this morning throughout the country after heavy rains caused rivers to break their banks.

A state of emergency has been declared in five cities and 16 municipalities, Valjevo in the west being particularly hard-hit, with urban residents evacuated from the left bank of the Kolubara River. Access roads to this town have been closed.

Some 700 people have been evacuated from their homes so far in different parts of the country, while the Ibar Highway and many smaller roads remain closed. The town of Gornji Milanovac was thus also cut off. Railroad traffic has also been suspended on some lines.

Classes have been suspended in 400 schools, while some 100,000 households have been left without electricity.

The state meteorological authority, RHMZ, has warned that rain will continue throughout the day on Thursday, but with less intensity.

The government has decided to declare a state of emergency in the entire territory of the country in order to deal with the situation.

The public road maintenance company JP Putevi Srbija has announced these emergency situations phone numbers: 011 3040 655, 011 3040 666, 064 8617 117

The Interior Ministry (MUP) said that citizens in need of assistance and rescue can dial 011 2289 208 or 011 2282 910. The MUP stressed that this hotline was not set up to provide information related to the flooding

State of emergency

The Serbian government declared a state of emergency due to flashing floods caused by heavy rain throughout the country on Thursday.

The decision was made at the request by the Republic Emergency Management Headquarters, who said this is the biggest natural disaster caused by rain in Serbia's history.

Emergency Situations Sector chief Predrag Marić said today that the situation is the most dramatic in western Serbia, where hundreds of people were evacuated during the night.

People are being evacuated to schools, military barracks and their relatives' homes, Marić told Tanjug, adding that the situation is changing by the hour.

Around 100,000 homes in Serbia are left without power and teams are on the ground to solve the problem, said Energy Minister Aleksandar Antić.

Evacuation of livestock and people is underway in the areas of Valjevo, Čačak, Kosjeric, Loznica, Užice and Požega.

The situation is critical in the territory of Čačak, as the Čemernica River burst its banks and flooded hundreds of homes, leaving two-thirds of the city under water.

The river Tamnava flooded the centre of Koceljeva during the night on Wednesday, resulting in the evacuation of 50 families, which is still ongoing.

The river Jadar flooded the surrounding villages in the municipality of Loznica on Wednesday night, cutting the villages off from the town of Loznica and interrupting their power supply. Twenty-eight people have been evacuated, including 20 children, who have all been moved to a local sports centre.

Some sections of the roads between Loznica and Šabac and Loznica and Valjevo have been closed off.

The water level in Lučani is rising quickly. Roads in the town and nearby villages have been flooded, as well as the local hospital. The water has even entered the compound of the factory Milan Blagojević, which was flooded 15 days ago as well.

The floods and property damage are worse now and unless the rain stops, the consequences for the buildings, infrastructure and crops will be catastrophic, Mayor of Lučani Mladomir Sretenović has said.

Ljig has lost its power and water supply. The local hospital and a number of homes have been flooded, so some of the residents have had to seek refuge on rooftops.

Around 800 ha of agricultural land have been flooded, while roads in five subdistricts have been destroyed, so those villages are inaccessible.

During the night, the river Kolubara hit its all-time peak and flooded the main streets in Valjevo and neighboring villages. Around a hundred people have been evacuated, including 24 inmates from a local prison.

Electricity and water supply cuts are still in force, and almost all roads connecting the town with nearby settlements and the bridges over Kolubara have been closed, save the bridge on the bypass running to Užice.

In Banat, a region in Vojvodina, many fields have been flooded for the second time this year and this will cause serious damage to spring crops.

The suburbs of Novi Sad and Belgrade are also threatened, with a rainfall of 140 liters of water per square meter in the last 48 hours, a three months' average.

Belgrade's suburban neighborhoods Lazarevac, Obrenovac and Grocka and urban settlement Borča are under the greatest threat, and traffic has been suspended on Belgrade's bypass running to Bubanj Potok.

On Wednesday evening, the police and the Gendarmerie joined the fight against flooding and the ministers of the interior and defence visited the most affected areas, and the emergency situations headquarters are working around the clock to find ways to deal with the situation.