Flash floods, landslides hit parts of Slovenia after month's amount of rain falls in a day - 6 dead (UPDATES)

Guardian
Fri, 04 Aug 2023 12:29 UTC

© Gregor Ravnjak

A massive clean-up operation is underway in Slovenia and Austria following the floods

Heavy rains have caused flash floods and landslides in parts of Slovenia, blocking roads and bridges, flooding buildings and forcing evacuations on Friday.

Slovenia's environmental agency, ARSO, raised the weather alert after a month's amount of rain fell within 24 hours in northern, north-western and central parts of the country.

The official STA news agency reported evacuations in several regions, including campsites.

Comment: Update

Deutsche Welle reports:

Three people were killed after a month's worth of rain in 24 hours caused floods and landslides in northeastern and central Slovenia and southern Austria, authorities said Friday.

Flood alert sirens sounded off in Slovenia's capital, Ljubljana, along with Maribor and Celje, after the country's environment agency put out the highest "red alert" because of the heavy showers that began overnight.

The bodies of two foreign tourists were found in a mountain area and a woman was found in another flooded area, police spokeswoman Maja Adlesic told AFP news agency.

No injuries were reported in Austria.

© Government of Slovenia

Flood damage in Slovenia, 04 August 2023.

© PGD Menges

Firefighters evacuated children from a kindergarten in the town of Menges.

Update August 8

AFP reports:

The death toll from days of heavy rains and flooding in Slovenia has climbed to six, police said Monday (7 August), as clean-up operations continued with help from neighbouring countries.

Prime Minister Robert Golob has described the torrential rains and severe flooding that hit the Alpine country of two million as its worst natural disaster since independence three decades ago.

Flash floods and landslides that began Thursday had submerged large swathes of central and northern Slovenia, cutting off access to villages and disrupting traffic.

On Sunday, emergency workers recovered the body of a 35-year-old man in a river near the village of Mirna Perc in the east.

Another man, who was taking part in the clean-up operations, was found dead after falling into a cesspit near the town of Kamnik close to Ljubljana, police said.

The bodies of two Slovenians and two Dutch citizens had been found earlier.

On Monday, rescue workers tried to reopen roads to the most remote or isolated places, while assessing damages which the government has said could exceed half a billion euros.

According to public radio, civil protection authorities were keeping an eye on numerous flood-hit areas where landslides could threaten infrastructure and houses.

Harrowing accounts have emerged of rescue workers and volunteers helping to save locals and tourists from the floods, and sheltering them in community halls and other places.

Slovenia, an EU member, has asked for help from the bloc, seeking in particular heavy machinery such as excavators and prefabricated temporary bridges to deal with the aftermath of the flooding.

Slovenia has also asked NATO to provide transport helicopters and soldiers to help with the recovery efforts.

A first truck with humanitarian help and food arrived from Hungary late Sunday, followed by a helicopter, while Croatia provided a military helicopter to help close and secure a broken levee on the Mura River.