Bosnian floods and landslides leave 19 dead

Floods and landslides in central Bosnia-Herzegovina have left at least 19 people dead, towns and villages cut off and reports in some areas of homes nearly submerged.

Some of the worst scenes were in the area around Jablanica, a town on the main road between the cities of Mostar and the capital, Sarajevo, about 70 kilometers (40 miles) to the northeast.

A number of other people have been reported missing and a state of emergency has been declared.

The Minister of Social Development, Vojin Mijatovic, said that the country had witnessed a terrible tragedy and called for calm.

Rivers burst their banks after the overnight storm and aerial images showed many towns and villages left inundated.

Roads, bridges and railroad tracks were washed away or blocked by debris, while landslides left houses buried in rocks and soil up to the upper floors.

The M-17 highway, which runs along the Neretva River was covered in debris near Jablanica and a 17km-stretch of railway was badly damaged between Ostrozac near Grabovica in the west. One 200m track was left hanging in the air by a landslide near a river south of Jablanica.

Local authorities in Herzegovina-Neretva Canton have warned drivers to avoid dangerous roads around Jablanica.

To the east by the Neretva River, another home owner told Bosnian media that the house was flooded around 03:30 on Friday and that they failed to save their son before he fled to the neighbors who saw their house collapse.

Meanwhile, 20 kilometers to the west of the capital around Kiseljak, a flood of water flooded the roads, leaving cars submerged.

The floods were not limited to Bosnia. In neighboring Montenegro, roads washed away leaving the village of Komarnica cut off.

Water levels were also rising in some of Croatia’s rivers, and the Zagreb government said there was a risk of flooding in parts of the city of Karlovac along the Kupa river.

Much of Central Europe was hit by floods last month, with the worst damage in Poland, the Czech Republic and Romania.

Scientists from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group said that one four-day period was the heaviest rainfall ever recorded in the region. They said the floods have become worse because of climate change.

Europe is the hottest continent. The past five years have been on average about 2.3C warmer than the second half of the 19th century, according to the Copernicus climate service.