Heavy rainfall and melting snow have forced rivers to burst their banks over the weekend, sweeping away bridges, flooding homes and closing roads throughout Bosnia, but the situation is now stabilising, authorities said on Monday.
A swollen river swept away a bridge in Sarajevo’s Ilidza neighbourhood, while and another one collapsed in central Bosnia, cutting the road connecting Novi Travnik and-Bugojno.
The situation in Bosnia’s Federation (FBiH), one of the two semi-autonomous entities within the country, has calmed down and stabilised since Sunday, said Fahrudin Solak, the director of the FBiH Civil Protection Centre, adding that there is no need to evacuate the population.
“We were on the ground all day yesterday and worked on evacuating and transporting the people, relocating part of the water and pumping it away from certain locations. Today the situation is a lot better,” he told the Anadolu Agency.
Central Bosnia has suffered the most under the flooding, he said, naming the areas of Kiseljak, Busovaca and Zenica as those most affected.
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“The good thing we should emphasise is that we had no injured people or more grave consequences,” he said.
There was significant damage, but it is early to estimate how much, he added.
In the other semi-autonomous part of the country, Republika Srpska (RS), the situation is also stabilising, its Civil Protection Centre said.
The calamity prompted many to offer help to people whose homes were flooded.Among them are the motel ‘Daco’ in the central Bosnian town of Vitez, which was hit hard with the floods.
“In case there is anyone who had to move out of his home because of the weather conditions and needs help, we will gladly offer him a room in the motel Daco,” the management said.
The ‘Gongo’ tow service also offered free help to anyone in need, as did local transport company in Puticevo, central Bosnia.
Economy professor and member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Anto Domazet told N1 that the floods are an even bigger problem since the government of the FBiH has not adopted a budget or a decision on temporary financing.
A lack of a budget creates “uncertainty, fear among those who are paid from the budget, but also disables normal functioning.”
“Now we are facing floods, and that needs to be financed. Such uncertainty cannot be accepted,” he said, adding that authorities have shown they are irresponsible.
