16 people died in severe floods in Bosnia

Friday’s floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina claimed at least 16 lives, while landslides and heavy rains wrecked houses, roads, and bridges in the country’s heartland, leaving many more missing, according to officials.

Road and railroad connections were damaged, cutting off the entire municipality of Jablanica, which is located around 70 km (43 miles) southwest of Sarajevo, the city, where the killings were reported.

A spokesman for the cantonal interior ministry, Ljudevit Maric, told Reuters that sixteen individuals had died, the most of them in the Jablanica region. “The missing person’s search is ongoing,” he declared.

Rescue services in the south said several people were missing and called on volunteers and the army to assist as roads were closed and houses left without electricity.

Josip Kalem, a resident of Fojnica, one of the towns hit by the floods, said his dog’s barking woke him up at around 4 am.

“I came down, woke up my wife, and we looked around, we could not get out of the house. We saw more and more water coming in,” he said.

“All of a sudden, the water was flooding the garage, basement, my car, everything. The water swept it all away, including my dog. Floods took it downstream.”

A spokesman for the local administration, said at least 14 people had died in and around the southern town of Jablanica but officials later said two more bodies have been found.

“Those are the ones who have been discovered by rescuers. We still don’t know the final death toll,” said Darko Juka.

At an emergency session, Bosnia’s central government said it would allocate funds for the recovery of the affected areas.

The government of the Bosniak-Croat Federation declared a state of natural disaster in the flood-affected areas and set up a crisis committee to help alleviate the situation there.

Neighbouring Croatia and Serbia also offered Bosnia assistance in rescue operations.

Aldin Brasnjic, the head of the Civil Defense administration in the Bosniak-Croat federation, said rescuers could not reach a number of villages due to blocked roads and that upcoming rains would make their efforts more difficult.