Severe snow and heavy rains cause flooding, power outages, and fatalities in the Balkans, with Bosnia and Serbia heavily impacted
ZAGREB: Snow and heavy rains caused power failures and flooding in parts of the Balkans, authorities said Tuesday, with one woman killed in a weather-related accident in Bosnia.
A woman died in hospital in Sarajevo after being hit by a tree that collapsed Monday under the weight of the 40 centimetres (16 inches) of snow that fell over the weekend on the Bosnian capital, police said.
Dozens of villages across neighbouring Serbia were left without power, with the state-run RTS broadcaster reporting that the authorities had declared states of emergencies in parts of the west.
In the capital Belgrade, heavy weekend snowfall brought down trees and branches onto parked cars, and the Serbian weather service warned of even more for several regions for Wednesday.
Heavy rainfall caused several rivers around Mostar in southern Bosnia to overflow, while in the east of the country, authorities declared a state of emergency in the Zvornik area due to the rising water levels of the Drina river.
In Blagaj, near Mostar, the Buna river went up by 2.18 metres (more than seven feet) overnight, the highest since measurements began in 1923, official figures showed.
“In just one day, the water level rose by a metre and a half, you could literally see it rising,” Salko Golos, owner of a riverside restaurant, part of which was flooded, told AFP.
“There is some damage, but lives are what matter… everything else can be fixed,” he added.
Downpours also hit Albania, where dozens of homes were evacuated, as well as Kosovo and Montenegro.
