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© Meteo Balkans
The declared state of emergency remains in force in the municipalities of Berkovitsa and Georgi Damyanovo after yesterday's torrential rains. At the moment, there are no people in distress, said the mayor of Berkovitsa Dimitranka Kamenova.

The disaster caused damage to the infrastructure in some areas, there are flooded houses and yards.

In Berkovitsa, two kindergartens, a school and the premises of the local police department were also affected.

The road surface was destroyed, over 100 reports of flooded objects were received. Due to the danger of a dam overflowing, a preventive evacuation of residents of the Montana village of Klisuritsa was carried out.



The director of the National Fire Service Chief Commissioner Alexander Zhartov commented:
"In general, the situation at the Klisuritsa dam was critical, where there was a danger that the dam wall would overflow, but we have a team with a hydraulic pump and at the moment there is no longer any danger. We are working in Berkovitsa, there are many teams on site with pumps".
In the flooded Botevgrad village of Vrachesh, a tour is to be conducted today to determine the damage. This was explained to the National Radio by the mayor of the settlement, Marin Bonchovski.

Around 100 houses were flooded. By late night, almost everything had been drained. The roads are passable. Some basements remain flooded.

"There was a lot of water. A huge amount. It has been raining here for a whole month. The ground was wet, there is nowhere for the water to go. Suddenly, in a short time, a lot of rain poured down. In the lowest part, people suffered," the mayor described the situation.

Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov ordered military personnel and equipment of the Bulgarian army to also be involved in overcoming the consequences of the flood in Berkovitsa.

What happened yesterday

An unprecedented flood hit Berkovitsa at 5-6 p.m. on June 12, the Meteo Balkans website reported.

The rains caused a flood in the city, as the elements literally carried away cars as well. According to the spokesperson of the municipality, Boyka Popova, who was quoted by BTA, 68.6 liters per square meter fell in about an hour. Between 19:00 p.m. and 21:00 p.m. on Monday, the municipality received more than 100 reports of flooded houses, street pavements swept away and cars damaged by the elements in different parts of Berkovitsa. At 9:30 p.m., the crisis headquarters for actions in the event of disasters and accidents met in Berkovitsa, which decided to declare a state of emergency. All the available equipment of the municipality and the fire department in the city, as well as teams from other settlements, worked on street clearing and drainage.

According to eyewitnesses who published photos and videos on the Internet, the water reached one and a half meters in the low points of the central part of Berkovitsa. It has dragged benches, garbage cans, garbage and even cars with it.

Multiple videos and photos from the city show dramatic footage of the downpour sweeping away everything in its path. The camera from the center of Berkovitsa at 18:00 p.m. showed this:


"There has never been such disaster! Horror! It drowned us! The old car disappeared, 8 cubic meters of wood too! They cut down the forest hideously, we will bear the consequences!", Iliana Makarinova-Petrova wrote on Facebook.

"So how can there be no disasters⁉️ Neither the mayor nor any of his many deputies bothered to look at the state of the riverbeds in the territory of the municipality. The photos were taken immediately above Berkovitsa district in the direction Kom, and what do we see in them? One of the companies that destroy the Berkovitsa forests has collected the thick wood, and the branches are most irresponsibly dumped around the river bed. With every heavy rain, the branches are carried away until they become stuck and begin to pile up somewhere along the river. This is how many dams have been formed, which at one point break and then we hear replies 'but it poured 100 l/m2!' And what I'm talking about is 300 m above Berkovitsa quarter, what about the other parts of the rivers that are on the territory of the municipality? In fact, the entire 'Berkovitsa' river is in pre-emergency condition, after it was cleaned for 330,000 leva, but only according to documents," commented another user registered under the name Milovan Zhan Katani.