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"This is Armageddon": Thousands flee Balkans floods in Bosnia's worst exodus since war

Fears are growing of dislodged landmines causing injury and animal carcasses spreading disease.

Serbia Balkans Floods A flooded area in Obrenovac, some 30 kilometers southwest of Belgrade, Serbia. AP Photo AP Photo

BOSNIA IS WITNESSING “the biggest exodus” since the 1990s war, authorities have said, after the worst floods in a century inundated huge swathes of the Balkans, killing at least 47 peoples

Muddy waters from the Sava River have submerged houses, churches, mosques and roads in Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia after record rainfall last week wreaked havoc across the region.

There were fears that dead bodies and animal carcasses could lead to disease outbreaks, while officials warned that 120,000 unexploded mines from the conflicts of the 1990s could be dislodged.

“More than 100,000 people” have been evacuated in Bosnia alone, said Stanko Sliskovic of Bosnia’s emergency services, with tens of thousands more displaced in neighbouring countries.

“This is the biggest exodus since the end of the 1992-1995 war,” he told AFP.

Dozens of towns and villages have been cut off and over 2,000 landslides already reported, with water levels expected to continue rising in the coming days.

In Kosova, a hamlet between the northwestern Bosnian towns of Doboj and Maglaj which was badly hit by flooding, people’s homes were almost visibly moving as the loose terrain shifted.

Around 20 homes “have slid down 30 metres (yards) since yesterday. They will not exist tomorrow,” a rescue worker said.

Serbia Floods A military amphibious vehicle drives through street where flood waters are retreating in Obrenovac AP Photo / Darko Vojinovic AP Photo / Darko Vojinovic / Darko Vojinovic

Bosnian Foreign Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija said more than a quarter of the country’s population of 3.8 million “has been affected by the floods” after the heaviest rainfalls on record began last week.

“Right now, more than one million people have no water,” he said.

In Serbia, some 600,000 of its 7.2 million inhabitants were affected by “severe floods following the heaviest rains the Balkans have witnessed in 120 years,” the UN’s World Food Programme said in a statement.

“This is Armageddon, I can’t describe it otherwise,” Nedeljko Brankovic told AFP from Krupanj, a town in the southwestern Serbia. “Houses are literally washed away and landslides are everywhere.”

The death toll from the floods rose to 47 Monday after two new victims were found overnight in a village near the western Serbian town of Sabac.

Neighbouring Croatia has also evacuated thousands of people from along the river Sava.

Rescuers told of wrenching scenes as they finally reached cut-off villages, with dozens of people huddling on top of the tallest houses with no water or food.

Bosnia Balkans Floods A Bosnian man rescues a dog, as he searches for people and animals after flooding in the village of Vojskova near the Bosnian town of Bosanski Samac AP Photo / Amel Emric AP Photo / Amel Emric / Amel Emric

“It was like a tsunami,” said Suad Garanovic, resident of the Bosnian village of Topcic Polje, as he looked over his house, now drowned in mud.

“This is the second time I’ve fled my house. The first time was during the war. Now, just like then, I’ve lost everything,” said Nihad Smajlovic in a nearby hamlet.

Svetlana Obojcic described her rescue along with neighbours from the top floor of her building in the Serbian town of Obrenovac.

“All 30 of us were in one flat for three days without electricity,” said the mother-of-two, hugging her six-year old twins in a temporary shelter in the Belgrade suburb of Sumice.

“We ate what we had, we did not have enough water, but at least we are dry now,” she said.

More than half of Obrenovac’s population of 20,000 had already been evacuated by Friday and Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic on Monday ordered the rest be brought to safety.

Health authorities have ordered inhabitants not to return to their homes until they would be cleared from the debris and safe from diseases.

Bosnia Balkans Floods Heavy machinery is used to clean streets in the village of Topcic Polje, that was damaged by a landslide, near the Bosnian town of Zenica AP Photo / Sulejman Omerbasic AP Photo / Sulejman Omerbasic / Sulejman Omerbasic

“We have to react properly to avoid an even worse catastrophe, to avoid infectuous diseases,” Serbian Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar told state TV RTS.

Emergency teams were desperately trying to strengthen defences at the nearby Nikola Tesla power plant, which produces around half of Serbia’s electricity and is currently only protected by temporary dikes built by thousands of volunteers along the swollen Sava River.

“I am devastated. I have left everything, my cattle, my pigs, my chickens. Thank God my wife, children and grandchildren are safe,” said 78-year old pensioner Veselin Rankovic from Zabrezje, a nearby village.

In a potentially deadly side-effect, officials in Bosnia warned on Monday that some 120,000 unexploded mines left over from the Balkan war of the 1990s could be dislodged and moved.

“Water and landslides have possibly moved some mines and taken away mine warning signs,” Sasa Obradovic, an official of Bosnia’s Mine Action Centre told AFP.

He warned residents to be “extremely cautious when they start cleaning their houses, land or gardens as the remaining mud could hide mines and other explosive devices brought by rivers.”

© – AFP 2014

Read: More flooding expected in the Balkans as rivers reach new peaks >

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    Mute Patrick McEneaney
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    Sep 20th 2013, 8:14 AM

    Is it too late in the year to whipp out the bbq for one last hurrah?

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    Mute ThomasFrancisMeagher
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    Sep 20th 2013, 8:23 AM

    Not at all. Get it out. Mount Congreve Gardens are open in Waterford this Sat & Sun for a rare weekend. Try & get there if you can, the place is magical.

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    Mute Barry Aston
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    Sep 20th 2013, 8:00 AM

    SCANGERS!!!!! Please leave the 40 foot alone! Or at least take your rubbish with you.

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    Mute Fergal Reid
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    Sep 20th 2013, 8:53 AM

    SCANGERS!!! Head to the 40 Foot. Howth will be, umm, on fire.

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    Mute Gahan Frost
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    Sep 20th 2013, 7:36 AM

    Nice!!!

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    Mute ThomasFrancisMeagher
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    Sep 20th 2013, 8:21 AM

    The Sunny South-East leading the way again.

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    Mute Matt
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    Sep 20th 2013, 11:30 AM

    Im in Dublin this weekend 22 degrees Sat-Mon Woohoo

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    Mute Dermot Fennelly
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    Sep 20th 2013, 8:22 AM

    has to go down as the best summer ever ,

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    Mute Lloyd Christmas
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    Sep 20th 2013, 7:48 AM

    Just in time for the match, next week Oktoberfest

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    Mute Matt
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    Sep 20th 2013, 11:56 AM

    The first 2 weeks of October last year we had temperatures up to 26 degrees. Never forget it. Then Halloween it dropped to 9. Lets hope we get a repeat this year.

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    Mute Simone Behal
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    Sep 20th 2013, 8:12 AM

    The ocean will be freezing ! Brrrr! And the Dr will have a bumper week with all the flu’s from all those who stripped off !

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    Mute P O Leary.
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    Sep 20th 2013, 8:40 AM

    Buzz killer !!!!

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    Mute Matt Connolly
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    Sep 20th 2013, 8:41 AM

    I’ll ask them to put the immersion on for you.

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    Mute Matt Connolly
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    Sep 20th 2013, 8:46 AM

    Actually – it looks like average sea temperatures are actually HIGHER in September than in July.

    http://www.seatemperature.org/europe/ireland/dun-laoghaire.htm

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    Mute Johnny Ace
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    Sep 20th 2013, 7:44 AM

    Yesssssss!

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    Mute john cleary
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    Sep 20th 2013, 9:03 AM

    Sea isn’t cold. Was like summer last Friday and Saturday in Lahinch, great surfing.
    Same again this weekend!

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    Mute Cathal Leonard
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    Sep 20th 2013, 7:44 AM

    Great video, freeeeeestyleeee thanx

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    Mute Tús Nua
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    Sep 20th 2013, 11:15 AM

    Despite the economic downturn a bit of sunshine can lift the spirits

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    Mute AggressiveSecularist
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    Sep 20th 2013, 11:21 AM

    20 degrees is far too cold for swimming. It’s not warm whether by any standard.

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    Mute Ian Walsh
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    Sep 20th 2013, 11:44 AM

    Maybe in you whiney opinion…

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    Mute On Raglan Road
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    Sep 20th 2013, 12:07 PM

    Don’t worry. We’re going to ship you up some warm water from Miami. It’s 86f down here:)

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    Mute Liz Bond-Blanch
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    Sep 20th 2013, 4:32 PM

    The sea requires a lot of energy to warm up. This has been happening over the great summer we’ve had so the sea temperature is most likely better now than in July!

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    Mute 1 Human Being
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    Sep 20th 2013, 5:42 PM

    The elimination of two seasons is getting beyond a joke it’s autumn. Spring and autumn are seasons in Ireland. So if they are included and not americanised this is normal type of weather for the season that is in it seen as it is harvest time and not the fall THIS IS AUTUMN. Rant over

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