Floods in Bosnia kill at least 16

Photo: Rusmir Smajilhodzic Agence France-Presse In Kiseljak, about thirty kilometers northwest of Sarajevo, several houses, cars and gardens were covered in water in just a few dozen minutes.

Rusmir Smajilhodzic – Agence France-Presse and Lajla Veselica – Agence France-Presse respectively in Kiseljak and Zagreb

Published at 16:44

• Europe

At least 16 people died Friday in central Bosnia after floods and landslides caused by torrential rains took several villages by surprise.

A few hours after an initial report of 14 bodies found, regional police spokesman Ljudevit Marica confirmed to AFP that two more people had been found dead.

“It was terrifying, absolutely terrifying,” Emir Arfadzan, a resident of the village of Donja Jablanica, the worst-hit by the floods, told AFP.

“Several cubic metres of water and thousands of tonnes of rubble fell on the village. About ten houses were destroyed,” added the 62-year-old, visibly angry. “People didn't have time to… They only had a few seconds to flee. But we managed to save a child.”

This village, located about 70 km southwest of Sarajevo, was the worst-hit by the floods and landslides. Cut off from the world for several hours in the morning, it was finally reached by military vehicles and civil protection, who discovered a devastated landscape.

His mosque was almost completely submerged by the waters, with only the dome and minaret protruding, AFP journalists noted.

Photo: Elvis Barukcic Agence France-Presse The mosque in Donja Jablanica was almost completely submerged by the waters, with only the dome and minaret protruding.

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Several residents will not be able to return home Friday evening. “They marked our house with a cross, which means we have to leave,” said Mr Arfadzan, who is preparing to seek refuge with his son in the town of Konjic, a few kilometres away.

According to national television BHRT, two other people died in the Fojnica region, but this toll could not be verified by AFP.

Army

The Bosnian federal presidency has sent the army to the area. “Engineering units, rescue units and a helicopter from the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina have been urgently mobilised to provide assistance to the civil authorities in response to this disaster,” it said in a statement.

The government of the Muslim-Croat entity of Bosnia — one of the three components of the country of which the affected region is a part — has declared a state of natural disaster.

Images posted by the Bosnian railway service show disused rails covered in rocks and pieces of wood swept away by the landslides.

Many people were still missing in the afternoon. The wounded were evacuated by a helicopter from the European Union peacekeeping force (EUFOR), according to regional authorities.

Photo: Elvis Barukcic Agence France-Presse The village of Donja Jablanica, about 70 km southwest of Sarajevo, was the most affected by the floods and landslides.

“Biblical Flood”

In Kiseljak, about thirty kilometers northwest of Sarajevo, several houses, cars and gardens were covered in water in just a few dozen minutes.

“The rain started yesterday [Thursday] around 9pm and continued all night,” the town’s mayor, Mladen Misuric-Ramljak, told AFP. “Everything was normal until around 5am, then huge amounts of water came.”

“We certainly have several hundred homes flooded. I was born here, I’ve lived in Kiseljak all my life, and we’ve never had a flood of this magnitude. I would even dare to say it’s the biblical flood,” the mayor added. Fortunately, he reported no casualties in his town.

“These are scenes from the apocalypse.” Even the oldest residents […] do not remember that so much rain fell in such a short time, that small streams turned into big rivers” and washed away bridges, Renato Pejak, head of the municipality of Kresevo, a few kilometres south of Kiseljak, told local media.

Very serious floods had already hit Bosnia in 2014, causing immense damage estimated at the time at 2 billion euros.

In neighbouring Croatia, a red flood alert was issued by the authorities around the port of Rijeka, in Istria (west) and in the centre of the country.

They warned that flooding was to be expected in several towns, as well as power and water cuts.