[Vision2020] "... the worst natural catastrophe that has ever hit Serbia"

[Ted Moffett]

I heard about this event, but till reading more carefully about this
disaster, I did not realize the full extent of the catastrophe.  Thousands
of landslides wiping out homes, active land mines driven in flood waters to
end up who knows where, with the possibility a land mine could end up in
hydroelectric turbines, 300,000 left without electricity due to flood
waters shutting down power stations, more than 20,000 forced from their
homes, etc.   The total death toll is unknown at this time...

But don't link this massive record setting flooding to anthropogenic global
warming... It's a hoax promoted by irrational climate change alarmists...

http://www.dw.de/serbia-and-bosnia-hit-by-record-flooding/a-17640260
"... the worst natural catastrophe that has ever hit Serbia"

The heaviest rains and floods in 120 years have hit the Balkan states of
Serbia and Bosnia, forcing hundreds out of their homes. There have been
calls for international assistance.

Five casualties, one a firefighter on a rescue mission, drowned as
torrential rain forced hundreds of people out of their homes in Serbia.
Some 100,000 households were left without electricity. Schools in the
Serbian capital stayed closed on Friday.

Belgrade authorities said the average rainfall of a two-month period hit
the city in just 40
hours<http://www.dw.de/storm-floods-balkans-serbia-declares-emergency/a-17639326>.
The government has asked the European Union and Russia for assistance.

"This is the worst natural catastrophe that has ever hit Serbia," Serbia's
Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said while touring the flooded areas. Three
thousand people were evacuated from their homes in the west and southwest
of the country.

Some 100,000 households with an estimated 300,000 inhabitants, mostly in
rural western Serbia, have been left without electricity as the country's
sole power utility company EPS said it had halted two hydro-power plants
due to high water levels on the Morava river.

*Bosnian military wades in*

Authorities declared a state of emergency in several parts of Bosnia,
ordering the army to help out rescuers. Two towns in western Bosnia, Maglaj
and Doboj, could be reached only by boats, as all the roads and streets
were completely flooded. Most schools were closed.

Bosnian military helicopters evacuated hundreds of people while EU troops
in Bosnia joined the effort with trucks and helicopters.
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Flooding in Balkans triggers landslides, disturbs minefields
http://www.dw.de/flooding-in-balkans-triggers-landslides-disturbs-minefields/a-17644507

The worst flooding in the Balkans in more than a century has triggered
landslides across Serbia and Bosnia. It has also moved some of the
estimated one million land mines left over from the region's war in the
1990s.

Authorities warned that while the torrential rains have stopped, water
levels would keep rising into Sunday night with the danger of flood surges
along rivers.

Thousands of people have been forced from their
homes<http://www.dw.de/serbs-brace-for-more-rising-water/a-17644013>and
the floods have threatened to inundate Serbia's main power plant,
which
supplies electricity to a third of the country and most of the capital,
Belgrade. Some 100,00 people in Serbia and Bosnia are without power.

Some forty people are reported to have
died<http://www.dw.de/serbia-and-bosnia-hit-by-record-flooding/a-17640260>with
the number expected to rise as recovery operations continue. Serbian
Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said Sunday that 12 bodies had been found
so far in Obrenovac, site of the coal-fired Nikola Tesla power plant.

Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic has been raising the issue for several
days as he played in the Rome Masters. After beating Rafael Nadal in the
final on Sunday he said: "I want to make a a special dedication to my
country Serbia, which is suffering a lot with flooding."

More than 20,000 people have been forced from their homes in Serbia.

The cities of Orasje and Brcko in northeast Bosnia, where the Sava River
forms the natural border with Croatia, were in danger of being overwhelmed.
Officials in Brcko ordered six villages to be evacuated.

Civil protection commander Fahrudin Solak said the Sava River was spilling
over part of the flood barrier in Orasje while emergency workers tried
desperately to reinforce it with sandbags.

Large parts of eastern Croatia were underwater too, with several villages
cut off and hundreds of people still fleeing the flooded zone in boats and
trucks. Refugees were being housed in sports halls and schools, and aid
centers were set up to distribute medicine, food, blankets and clothing.

The Bosnian army said it had 1,500 troops helping on the ground. But many
bridges have been washed away, leaving communities dependent on airlifts.
Helicopters from the European Union, Slovenia and Croatia have been helping
in rescue efforts.

*Landslides and land mines*

The rain caused an estimated 2,100 landslides that covered roads, homes and
whole villages throughout Bosnia. Another thousand landslides were reported
in Serbia.

The deluge has also unleashed a new danger from land mines, of which an
estimated million have been left over from Bosnia's 1992-95 war.

Nearly 120,000 of the unexploded devices remain in more than 9,400
carefully marked minefields. But the weather has toppled warning signs and,
in many cases, dislodged the mines themselves.

Beyond the immediate danger to people in Bosnia, loose mines could also
create an international problem if floodwaters carry the explosives
downstream. Experts warned that mines could travel through half of
southeast Europe or get stuck in the turbines of a hydroelectric dam.
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Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
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