After severe storms, Slovenia is struggling with the biggest natural disaster in the country’s history. The floods also caused damage in Croatia and Austria. The situation remains serious.
Slovenia – Severe thunderstorms and Floods are causing problems in Slovenia, Austria and Croatia for significant problems. Slovenia in particular has been struggling with flooding for days after several rivers burst their banks. Within a short time, the floods caused immense damage and emergencies. The small EU country is facing the worst natural disaster in its history.
There have not been such severe storms in the region for decades. After more than 36 hours of heavy rain, rivers burst their banks. Villages and entire regions were flooded. The disaster area is huge: up to two thirds of the country are affected by flooding. Several villages had been cut off from the outside world since Friday (4 August).
Floods and landslides in Slovenia after heavy rain and storms
After on Saturday (5 August) a dam on the Mur in the east of the country broke, the situation had once again drastically worsened. The whole region was alarmed. 500 people from the village of Dolnja Bistrica had to be rushed to safety.
The first clean-up work is already beginning in some parts of the country because the weather conditions had stabilized on Sunday. The danger of landslides is still acute in the region, and the emergency services remain on alert.
After storms in Slovenia, up to two thirds of the country are flooded
The situation in the Koroska region in the immediate vicinity of the flood plains in neighboring Austria was particularly critical. The town of Crna na Koroskem was one of the worst hit places, remaining cut off from the outside world on Saturday. According to the police, at least three people died within 24 hours of the disaster beginning.
Flood catastrophe caused damage of more than half a billion euros in Slovenia alone
According to estimates, the extent of the damage in Slovenia has already exceeded half a billion euros, Slovenian Prime Minister Golob told the news agency afp according to. Floods and landslides destroyed roads, hundreds of houses and the energy infrastructure. According to Slovenia, it has asked the EU and NATO for technical supplies to repair the damage.
After storms, large-scale clean-up work is now beginning in Slovenia
The Slovenian environmental agency Arso expects only a little rain for Monday (August 7), writes dpa. The water level of the Mur began to fall near Gornja Radgona on the border with Austria on Sunday evening. However, the risk of landslides remained due to the soaked soil. Nevertheless, clean-up work is now beginning on a large scale.
Through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, Slovenia applied for 30 excavators, 30 special vehicles to regulate watercourses and prefabricated bridges up to 40 meters long. The country requested more bridges from NATO, as well as five heavy military helicopters and 200 soldiers for protection, rescue and relief tasks.
In Austria, too, there is a risk of landslides after heavy storms
The situation could also become even more serious in neighboring Austria. Especially in the south Austria’s situation remains catastrophic. Due to the devastating rainfall, there is an increased risk of landslides in Carinthia and Styria. In the Carinthian communities of Brückl and Keutschach, dozens of houses had to be evacuated over the weekend due to the threat of mudslides. Several According to media reports, communities were temporarily cut off from the outside world.
According to the ORF, the water levels of most rivers in southern Austria are increasingly stabilizing. Along the Glan in Carinthia, however, the floods are only receding very slowly. In Styria, the flood situation is calming down. According to the ORF, there is no relaxation in the landslides. By Monday noon, 400 landslides had been reported. “We will have to expect that there will be more reports,” said Günter Hohenberger, head of the state warning center on ORF. Experts therefore expect further landslides in the wine-growing regions of Styria.
Floods in Croatia too – rivers coming from Slovenia burst their banks
In Croatia there was a state of emergency in some places due to flooding. The Croatian authorities recorded record water levels on the rivers Sava, Drava and Mura coming from Slovenia, the news agency reports dpa.
The floods poured onto roads, fields and settlements, like Croatian television HRT reported on Monday morning. Building sandbag dams has prevented major damage to residential buildings. On Monday, the water levels of the flood-carrying rivers fell.
