Flood surge in Belgrade threatens power plant

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-EXCITE

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Belgrade braced for a river surge Monday that threatened to inundate Serbia's main power plant and cause major power cuts in the crisis-stricken country as the Balkans struggle with the consequences of the worst flooding in southeastern Europe in more than a century.

At least 35 people have died in Serbia and Bosnia in the five days of flooding caused by unprecedented torrential rain, laying waste to entire towns and villages and sending tens of thousands of people out of their homes, authorities said.

But the death toll is expected to rise as floodwaters started to recede in some locations, laying bare the full scale of the damage after three months' worth of rain fell on the region in three days, producing the worst floods since rainfall measurements began 120 years ago.

Bosnian Foreign Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija compared the flood damage to the carnage during the 1990's war that killed at least 100,000 people and left millions homeless. He said about 100,000 houses, 230 schools and health institutions were destroyed in the floods in Bosnia and about a million people lack drinking water.

FULL story at link.

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140519/balkans-floods-c92f2ee9f3.html

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A Bosnian man passes a house destroyed in a landslide near Tuzla, 140 kms north of Sarajevo, on Monday May 19, 2014. Three months' worth of rain fell on the Balkan region in three days, producing the worst floods since rainfall measurements began 120 years ago. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)

[dipsydoodle]

1. Floods affect over 1 million in Balkans, destruction 'terrifying'

MAGLAJ, Bosnia/KRUPANJ, Serbia (Reuters) - Bosnia said on Monday that more than a quarter of its four million people had been affected by the worst floods to hit the Balkans in living memory, comparing the "terrifying" destruction to that of the country's 1992-95 war.

The extent of the devastation became apparent in Serbia too, as waters receded in some of the worst-hit areas to reveal homes toppled or submerged in mud, trees felled and villages strewn with the rotting corpses of livestock.

The regional death toll reached at least 39, after the heaviest rainfall since records began 120 years ago caused rivers to burst their banks and triggered hundreds of landslides.

"The consequences ... are terrifying," Bosnian Foreign Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija told a news conference. "The physical destruction is not less than the destruction caused by the war."

Lagumdzija said more than 100,000 houses and other buildings in Bosnia were no longer fit to use and that over a million people had been cut off from clean water supplies. MAGLAJ, Bosnia/KRUPANJ, Serbia (Reuters) - Bosnia said on Monday that more than a quarter of its four million people had been affected by the worst floods to hit the Balkans in living memory, comparing the "terrifying" destruction to that of the country's 1992-95 war.

http://news.yahoo.com/serbians-battle-save-biggest-power-plant-floods-092535868--finance.html includes video

[awoke_in_2003]

2. Rec for exposure. nt

[countryjake]

3. Fears of new surge on Serbia's River Sava

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27459184





Aerial footage showed flooding near Serbia's Tesla power plant

[countryjake]

4. The power of the flood...

A dramatic video has emerged from flood-hit Bosnia and Herzegovina showing a huge bridge being swept down a river.

The "Duga" a pedestrian bridge in the town of Zavidovići can be seen tearing away from the banks of the river Bosna and travelling downstream - where it later struck another bridge.