Bosnia floods landslides, At least eighteen people have died as a result of flash floods and landslides in central Bosnia-Herzegovina, which have also left numerous towns and villages cut off and homes underwater. One of the worst-hit places is Jablanica, a town roughly 70 km northeast of Mostar and the capital, Sarajevo.
A number of people remain missing, and a state of emergency has been declared. Development Minister Vojin Mijatovic called the situation a “terrible disaster” and urged calm. Search and rescue operations continue, with over a dozen people still unaccounted for.
In Donja Jablanica, where a landslide from an adjacent quarry buried buildings, two more bodies were found on Sunday. Some buildings’ rooftops are now covered with water, and rescuers are physically cleaning muck out of houses. The European Union, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Croatia have all sent help.
Although previous estimates estimated sixteen deaths, reports from earlier this year confirmed 13 deaths in the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton. Three more deaths were reported in Fojnica.
Overnight storms caused rivers to overflow, inundating many towns and villages. Roads, bridges, and railway tracks were destroyed or blocked by debris, and landslides buried houses. The M-17 highway near Jablanica was covered in debris, and a 17km stretch of railway was heavily damaged.
Other areas were also affected by the water. Roads were washed away in neighboring Montenegro, while streets were flooded in Kiseljak, which is located 20 km west of Sarajevo. Parts of Croatia were also at risk from rising sea levels, with possible flooding close to the Kupa River in Karlovac.
The recent disaster follows widespread floods across Central Europe last month, affecting countries like Poland, the Czech Republic, and Romania. Scientists from the World Weather Attribution group attribute the intensity of these floods to climate change, noting that Europe has warmed 2.3°C on average in the past five years, making it the fastest-warming continent.
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