floods
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Bulgaria's weather forecasters have issued a warning of a risk of floods in the evening hours of June 3 and the early morning of June 4.

The warning follows recent days of heavy rain that have hard-hit several places in Bulgaria, notably second city Plovdiv.

For June 4, the "Code Yellow" warning of potentially dangerous weather has been issued for 15 districts in Bulgaria because of forecast thunderstorms and heavy rain. The districts include Sofia - both the city and the district - and Plovdiv, and are all in the western half of Bulgaria.

On June 3, a partial state of emergency was declared in Gorna Oryahovitsa municipality because of complications caused by the heavy rain.




A partial state of emergency also was declared in five mayoralties in Opan municipality in the Stara Zagora district on June 3.

In the village of Srednogorovo in the Stara Zagora district on June 2, the river burst its banks, flooding houses. Many farmers' harvests were submerged and heavily damaged, reports said.

Karlovo has issued a warning of potentially hazardous weather, with authorities advising that more thunderstorms and drenching rain are on the way.

In Assenovgrad in the Plovdiv district, the mayor reported that there had been significant damage to road asphalt in the town.

On Sunday in Plovdiv, in less than an hour intense rainfall turned streets and boulevards into rivers.





Hundreds of households were left without electricity as power facilities were flooded. Basements of residential and public buildings, as well as four hospitals, were flooded. Emergency teams evacuated 120 children from the Boris Christoff House of Culture in Plovdiv. Two malls in the city were evacuated.

Thirty people, among them young children and four pregnant women, were rescued from cars caught up in the floods.


Canoeing on Plovdiv’s Ruski Boulevard at the weekend.
Canoeing on Plovdiv’s Ruski Boulevard at the weekend.