Slovenia Hit by Worst Floods in More Than a Decade, Killing Several People

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Several people were killed in Slovenia as the southern European nation was hit by some of the worst flooding in more the decade, with rapidly rising waters submerging towns in the country’s north.

The Slovenian Environment Agency declared the highest alert for the majority of the country on Friday, as thousands of Slovenians were left without electricity and drinking water. Heavy rain was expected to continue through Saturday and spread across the nation of 2.1 million, with flooding set to hit neighboring Croatia over the weekend.

Srecko Sestan, the head of Slovenia’s civil protection agency in charge of disaster relief, said the number of fatalities was yet unclear.

“To niso petstoletne, to so tisočletne vode. Govorimo o dveh metrih, dveh metrih in pol vode,” je poudaril vodja intervencije v Komendi. “Nismo kos situaciji, čeprav se trudimo,” je dodal.
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“These are not 500-year floods, these are 1,000-year floods,” Roman Koncilija, the head of rescue operations in the inundated town of Komenda north of the capital Ljubljana, told news outlet N1. Meteorologist Branko Gregorcic told reporters that some recordings registered the highest rainfall levels since measurements began.

Prime Minister Robert Golob, who was vacationing in Mediterranean, was due to return early and assess the damage, the government said in a statement.

Homes, roads, bridges, industrial zones and offices were damaged or destroyed. Hundreds were evacuated, including by boat and helicopter as homes were submerged and landslides threatened. Tourists from several campsites in the country’s north were rescued.

Work was halted in a BSH Hisni aparati plant that produces Bosch home appliances in the northern town of Nazarje, Chief Executive Bostjan Gorjup told the STA newswire. The factory floor is under 1.5 meters (five feet) of water, he said.

The heavy rain triggered rapid swelling of the Sava and Drava rivers, both of which flow to Croatia, hydrologist Janez Polajnar said at a press conference in Ljubljana, saying flooding was approaching record levels.

“Projected water levels are worrisome,” Polajnar said.

Flooding also inundated communities in southern Austria to Slovenia’s north overnight, particularly in the region of Carinthia.