Balkan braces for fresh floods as thousands left homeless

BELGRADE, Serbia – The Balkans braced for more misery as the death toll from the worst floods in a century rose to 47 and rising waters forced thousands more to flee their homes. (READ: Massive flooding in Bosnia)

Muddy waters from the Sava River have submerged houses, churches, mosques and roads in Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia after record rainfall wreaked havoc across the central European region.

More than 60,000 people have been evacuated as dozens of towns and villages have been completely cut off by the torrents, and water levels are expected to rise further in the coming days.

Bosnian officials say about a million people — more than a quarter of the country’s population – have been affected after the heaviest rainfalls on record began last week.

Villages have been hit by landslides caused by the torrential rainfall while officials fear unexploded landmines and infectious diseases could pose fresh dangers.

Rescuers told of wrenching scenes as they finally reached cut-off villages, with dozens of people huddling on top of the tallest houses with no water or food.

“This is Armageddon, I can’t describe it otherwise,” Nedeljko Brankovic told Agence France-Presse from Krupanj, a town in the southwestern town of Serbia.

“Houses are literally washed down and landslides are everywhere.”

The death toll from the floods was raised to 47 Monday after two new victims were found overnight in a village near the western Serbian town of Sabac.

Neighboring Croatia has also evacuated hundreds of people from along the river Sava.

‘I have left everything’

In Obrenovac, some 40 kilometers from Belgrade, more than 8,000 people have been evacuated, one third of its population.

Svetlana Obojcic, 38, was rescued along with her neighbors from the top floor of her building.

“All 30 of us were in one flat for three days, without electricity,” said the mother of two as she firmly hugged her six-year old twins at a temporary shelter in the Belgrade suburb Sumice.

“We ate what we had, we did not have enough water, but at least we are dry now,” she said.

Authorities sealed off the town amid fears the flood waters, filled with debris and dead animals, could become a breeding ground for disease.

Local television footage filmed from a helicopter showed most of the city’s buildings submerged by the floods, with water swamping the lower floors of six-story buildings.

“It is not safe for the inhabitants to return,” said Predrag Maric, chief of the emergency services.

Officials have appealed to residents to restrict their power use after water defenses around the Nikola Tesla power plant, which produces around half of Serbia’s electricity, gave way.

The plant near Obrenovac is now only protected by temporary dikes built by thousands of volunteers along the Sava River.

“I am devastated. I have left everything, my cattle, my pigs, my chickens. Thank God my wife, children and grandchildren are safe,” said 78-year old pensioner Veselin Rankovic from Zabrezje, a nearby village.

Threat of disease

Several border crossings have been closed as authorities fear heavy rainfall could cause more landslides and dislodge landmines left from the Balkan war.

It is estimated that some 120,000 unexploded mines are still left over from the 1992-1995 war.

Health authorities in Bosnia and Serbia have also warned of possible outbreak of infectious diseases such as enterocolitis, typhoid and hepatitis as the temperatures have risen.

“We have to react properly to avoid even worse catastrophe, to avoid infectious diseases,” Serbian Health Minister ZLatibor Loncar told state TV RTS.

Teams from Russia, the European Union, the United States and neighboring Montenegro and Macedonia have started to arrive with humanitarian aid, authorities said.

The United Nations flew life-saving equipment to Serbia overnight, with another plane with emergency food and water supplies was expected later Monday.

In Belgrade, thousands of volunteers were packing and lifting sandbags on the riverfronts of the Sava to secure the capital’s lower areas from flooding expected in the coming days.

“This natural cataclysm might be calming down, but we need lots of efforts to rebuild the country,” said President Tomislav Nikolic as a convoy with assistance left for Krupanj.

Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic, who won the Rome Masters on Sunday, said he would donate some 700,000 euros ($960,000) to the victims of floods in Serbia and Bosnia, local media reported.

Danger of wartime explosives

In a potentially deadly side-effect to the record-breaking floods that have engulfed Bosnia, officials warned on Monday that unexploded mines left over the 1990s conflict could be dislodged and moved.

“Water and landslides have possibly moved some mines and taken away mine warning signs,” said Sasa Obradovic, an official of Bosnia’s Mine Action Centre.

The teams have been in the field to assess the threat and warn residents, Obradovic told Agence France-Presse.

“They must be extremely cautious when they start cleaning their houses, land or gardens as the remaining mud could hide mines and other explosive devices brought by rivers.”

Bosnia is still infested with more than 120,000 mines planted during the 1992-1995 war. They were often buried on the banks of rivers as demarcation lines between warring factions.

Around 2.4% of the former Yugoslav republic’s territory is still believed to be covered with unexploded mines and similar explosive devices.

Since the end of the war, landmine blasts have killed some 600 people and wounded 1,110.

In neighboring Croatia, itself ridden with some 70,000 mines from its own 1990s conflict, the national demining center said more than 162,000 square meters are considered at risk from mines in flood-affected areas.

Bosnia’s mine center said it was planning to create a regional crisis team with counterparts in Croatia and Serbia, Obradovic said.

In Serbia, most of the areas still infected with unexploded mines and bombs from 1999 NATO bombing campaign have not been affected with current floods. – Rappler.com