Balkans: Worst Floods In A Century Kill 25 Tens of thousands have fled their homes after Serbia and Bosnia experienced three months of rainfall in just three days.

6:10am UK, Sunday 18 May 2014

Video: Thousands Flee Floods In Balkans

The worst floods to hit the Balkans in more than a century have killed at least 25 people, and there are fears that number could rise further as water recedes from deluged towns and cities.

Tens of thousands have fled their homes in Bosnia and Serbia after three months of rain fell on the region in just three days.

Hundreds have also been evacuated in Croatia.

Boats and helicopters have been used to evacuate those affected by floodwaters, which reached the second floor of homes in some parts of Bosnia, where 17 have died.

People receive food in the flooded town of Obrenovac

Security Ministry spokesman Admir Malagic said approximately a million people, more than a quarter of the population, live in the affected area.

Bakir Izetbegovic, the chairman of Bosnia's three-man presidency, said the country was facing a "horrible catastrophe".

In the eastern town of Bijeljina, around 100,000 people were evacuated on Saturday after flood defences were unable to hold back the rain-swollen Sava River.

Mayor Mico Micic said: "We need everything, we are under water."

Boats and helicopters are being used to rescue people

The rain has also caused almost 300 landslides, burying dozens of houses and cars.

Many have lost homes they have only just finished rebuilding after the 1992-95 war which killed 100,000 people and devastated the country.

Mines from that conflict litter Bosnia's mountains, and many warning signs have been swept away, increasing the risk of deadly accidents.

More than 15,000 people have been evacuated in Serbia, where eight people have died.

Many people have lost homes rebuilt after the 1992-95 war

Most of those who have fled their homes have found shelter in schools and sports halls.

Soldiers and emergency crews are using boats and helicopters to rescue thousands of people trapped in the town of Obrenovac, near the capital, Belgrade.

The flooding there is threatening the country's biggest power plant, Nikola Tesla.

Capacity at the plant has already been cut after a coal mine nearby was submerged.

A man peers over at the high level of the Sava river in Sremska Mitrovica

Residents of the nearby town of Baric have also been ordered to leave immediately, with many leaving on buses and military trucks.

There was a slight respite for some parts of the country on Saturday when the rain eased, but Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic warned a new flood wave on the Sava will hit on Sunday evening.

"Our primary concern is to protect the power plant," he said.

"We are doing all we can."

Thousands of volunteers have been bused in from all over the country after responding to a government appeal to help build flood defences along the river.

People build a dam of sandbags by the Sava river

Residents have used social media to help collect food, blankets and clothes for crisis-hit areas.

Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic has appealed for people to help. He wrote on his Twitter account: "Support for everyone! Let's help the endangered! Join the aid action!"

Both countries have appealed for international help and many European Union countries have sent equipment and emergency crews.

A Russian team has joined the rescue effort and a team from the UK was expected to arrive by the end of the day.

Balkan floods threaten Serbia power plant on River Sava

The extreme weather in Bosnia is heaping danger upon misery. The floods are not just the worst in living memory - they are bringing a deadly reminder of the conflict of the 1990s back to the surface: Landmines.

There are still more than 100,000 landmines littering the Bosnian countryside, according to the country's Mine Action Centre. Almost two decades on from the end of the conflict, people are still killed and injured every year.

Casualty numbers have reduced over the years, thanks to demining efforts and the mapping of minefields. Local people know the danger areas - and the safe paths.

But the torrential rain, floods and landslides are likely to cause the mines to move. Warning signs have already been washed away in a number of places. When the floods finally recede, there will be an urgent need for the deminers to move in.

In Serbia, thousands of residents in Obrenovac were moved to safety after much of the town was inundated.

The town, south-west of the capital Belgrade, is home to the Nikola Tesla power plant, which supplies much of the country.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said that his government's primary concern was to protect the power plant.

"We are doing all we can," he said.

Thousands of volunteers have responded to the government's appeal to build up flood defences along the Sava.

Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic also appealed for help.

"Support for everyone! Let's help those in danger! Join the aid action!'' he wrote on his Twitter account.

Officials have refused to give a death toll for Obrenovac until the floodwaters recede.

Almost one-third of Bosnia is under water. The north-east is worst affected, with houses, roads and railway lines submerged.

Bosnian Serb police chief Gojko Vasic said the situation had been particularly difficult in Doboj "because the flood waters acted as a tsunami, three to four metres high", the Reuters news agency reported.

"No-one could have resisted," he said.

Authorities have warned that the number of fatalities across the Balkans could rise as thousands of homes remain without electricity or drinking water and scores - like this man - are evacuated

Almost one-third of Bosnia is under water - from the air the north-eastern corner of the country resembles a huge muddy lake

In Serbia the floodwaters have been described as similar to a tsunami, three to four metres high in places

The flooding has also caused considerable infrastructure damage throughout the Balkans

'Horrible catastrophe' Bosnian Security Ministry spokesman Admir Malagic said that about one million people - more than a quarter of the country's population - live in the affected area.

Chairman of the Bosnian three-man presidency Bakir Izetbegovic said that his country is facing a "horrible catastrophe", the Associated Press reported.

"We are still not fully aware of actual dimensions of the catastrophe," he said.