Bosnia and Serbia floods: thousands flee as death toll rises

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Packed into buses, boats and helicopters, carrying nothing but a handful of belongings, tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in Bosnia and Serbia to escape the worst flooding in a century.

Rapidly rising rivers surged into homes, sometimes reaching up to the second floors, sending people climbing to rooftops for rescue. Hundreds were also evacuated in Croatia.

Authorities said on Saturday 25 people had died, but warned the toll could rise. Tens of thousands of homes were left without electricity or drinking water.

Landslides triggered by the floods also raised the risk of injury or death from land mines left over from Bosnia's 1992-95 war. The landslides swept away many of the carefully placed warning signs around the minefields.

Three months' worth of rain fell on the region in three days last week, creating the worst floods since records began 120 years ago.

From the air almost a third of Bosnia, mostly its north-east corner, resembled a huge muddy lake, with houses, roads and rail lines submerged. Admir Malagic, a spokesman for Bosnia's security ministry, said about a million people – more than a quarter of the country's population – lived in the affected area.

"Bosnia is facing a horrible catastrophe," said Bakir Izetbegovic, the chairman of the Bosnian three-man presidency. "We are still not fully aware of actual dimensions of the catastrophe ... we will have to take care of hundreds, thousands of people."

Izetbegovic was touring Maglaj, hard hit by the floods. As the waters mostly withdrew on Saturday, Maglaj was covered in mud and debris, with residents checking damage and bringing furniture out in the streets to dry.

"Everything is destroyed, but we are happy to be alive," said Maglaj resident Zijad Omerovic.

In the eastern Bosnian town of Bijeljina, some 10,000 people were being evacuated on Saturday after the rain-swollen Sava river pushed through flood defences, endangering four villages outside the town.

"We need everything, we are underwater," mayor Mico Micic exclaimed.

In eastern Croatia, the overflowing Sava spread over villages and farm land, sending hundreds fleeing.

Officials in Bosnia said 17 people haddied and more bodies could be found as water receded from dozens of cities. In some places, people had to be rescued by helicopter from their roofs.

Many in Bosnia lost homes they had only just rebuilt after the war, which claimed 100,000 lives and devastated the impoverished country.

In Serbia, eight deaths were reported and emergency crews and soldiers were using boats and helicopters to rescue thousands trapped in the town of Obrenovac, near Belgrade. Authorities also ordered residents of another nearby small town, Baric, to leave immediately on Saturday afternoon. Many hurriedly climbed into buses and military trucks to get away.

Officials said more than 16,000 people have been evacuated from flood-hit regions in Serbia, many finding shelter in schools and sports halls. Lines of mattresses covered the floors of Belgrade schools, with frightened survivors describing unstoppable torrents that surged in a matter of minutes.

Mirjana Senic, who lives in the centre of Obrenovac, said that "we thought we had it pretty bad ... [but] only when they evacuated us and when we actually saw the amount of water in other parts of town did we realise that we were lucky."

The flooding in Obrenovac is threatening the Nikola Tesla power plant, Serbia's biggest. Plant capacity had already been cut after a nearby coal mine was flooded and authorities urged residents to save energy to avoid brown-outs.

Prime minister Aleksandar Vucic told a press conference a new wave of flooding on the Sava would hit on Sunday evening.

"Our primary concern is to protect the power plant," Vucic said. "We are doing all we can."

International help poured into the two nations to support thousands of volunteers. A Russian team joined the rescue efforts in Serbia. Rescue teams from Luxembourg, Slovenia and Croatia were already in Bosnia, and others from the UK, Austria and Macedonia were expected.

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Fatal floods in Serbia and Bosnia force tens of thousands to flee their homes

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Locals on a boat in a flooded street in Pozega, Serbia. Photograph: Dragan Karadarevic/EPA

Record flooding in the Balkans has left least 20 people dead in Serbia and Bosnia and is forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes.

Meteorologists say the flooding is the worst since records began 120 years ago and is due to three months' worth of rain falling on the region in three days. Goran Mihajlovic from Serbia's Weather Centre said such rainfall happens once in 100 years.

In the eastern Bosnian town of Bijeljina, some 10,000 people were being evacuated on Saturday after the rain-swollen river Sava surged through flood defences.

Officials in Bosnia said 12 people had died and more bodies could emerge as the water recedes from dozens of cities flooded in the past three days.

In some places, the water had reached the second floor of people's homes and they had to be rescued by helicopter from their roofs.

In Serbia, where there were eight deaths, emergency crews and soldiers were using boats and helicopters to rescue thousands trapped in the town of Obrenovac, near Belgrade. The overflowing waters there are threatening Serbia's biggest power plant.

The Serbian prime minister, Aleksandar Vucic, told a press conference that a new flood wave on the Sava would hit on Sunday evening.

Thousands of volunteers have responded to the government's appeal to help build up flood defences around the towns along the Sava.

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Serbia and Bosnia flooding forces thousands to flee homes

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Link to video: Floods in Serbia and Croatia cause mass evacuation

Thousands of people crammed into boats and army trucks have fled their homes in Serbia and Bosnia after record rainfall turned the Sava river into a deadly torrent and caused the worst floods in more than a century.

According to officials in both countries, the disaster has killed at least 44 people. Some towns have been completely cut off and rescue teams feared the worst as improving weather allowed them to move in.

Some 10,000 people have been evacuated so far from the worst-affected areas of northern Bosnia. In the town of Samac, hundreds of stranded residents were waiting to be rescued.

Flooded cars in Obrenovac. Photograph: Marko Djurica/Reuters

"We sent rescue teams into a part of the city we had not been able to access so far. They are entering those areas fearing what they might discover," the mayor, Samo Minic, told reporters.

The worst rainfall since records began in the late 19th century caused landslides that brought more destruction and also prompted a landmine warning.

Bosnia's demining agency said residents around the towns of Doboj, Maglaj and Olovo – which saw fierce fighting during the war in the 1990s – should be particularly wary.

A van is stranded in mud in Topcic Polje, Bosnia. Photograph: Dado Ruvic/Reuters

Twenty of the 27 deaths recorded in Bosnia occurred in Doboj while on the other side of the Sava river, in Serbia, at least 16 bodies were found.

The prime minister, Aleksandar Vucic, said 12 bodies had been found in the town of Obrenovac alone, bringing the toll in Serbia to 16.

"Unfortunately there are estimates that the death toll will be higher," he said.

Croatia has also confirmed one casualty, as a result of bad weather that engulfed much of central and parts of eastern Europe at the weekend.

Evacuees from the Serbian town of Obrenovac in a shelter hall in Belgrade. Photograph: Marko Djurica/Reuters

Ukraine's emergencies ministry said electricity had been cut to about 100 villages in the north and west because of heavy rains and winds but that no casualties had been reported.

In the Serbian capital, Belgrade, dozens of schools and sport centres were turned into shelters for the thousands of evacuees plucked the disaster zones by boats, buses and helicopters.

Thousands of volunteers worked through the night to stack sandbags along the banks of the Sava river in Belgrade, expecting a "flooding wave".

Serbian soldiers help people leave their homes in Obrenovac. Photograph: Marko Djurica/Reuters

The mayor, Sinisa Mali, said he was confident any swelling of the Danube tributary could be contained but there was still concern further up river.

"The biggest problem is still along the Sava river. An evacuation is under way in Sremska Raca. In other areas it's getting better," Vucic said.

"What happened to us happens once in a thousand years, not hundred but thousand years," he said.

An aerial view of the flooded city of Orasje. Photograph: Dado Ruvic/Reuters

Humanitarian aid, technical equipment and teams from Russia, the European Union, the United States and neighbouring Montenegro and Macedonia were pouring in, authorities said.

Expressing his gratitude to all foreign countries for the aid, Vucic said Serbia now needed "food, baby food, diapers, all kind of clothes, medicaments, bottled water, disinfection and hygienic resources".

The Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic, in Rome where he has reached the final of the Rome Masters, on Saturday posted an appeal for "support and solidarity for my people in Serbia!" on his Facebook page, where he has more than 4 million followers.

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