Homes Evacuated in Flood-Hit Slavonia

More than 15,000 residents  in the eastern town of Slavonski Brod were evacuated from their homes last night as flooding sent the eastern Posavina region at Zupanja into emergency mode on the weekend…

“My message to residents of the flood-hit areas is to follow instructions for evacuation because they are based on serious estimates,” said Croatia’s President Ivo Josipovic, who was visiting flood-hit areas on Sunday.

Fundraising initiatives are underway, and the government has confirmed that the region of Slavonia will receive financial help after floods devesated the region. Evacuations were expected to continue in Cerna and Gradiste. Croatian Armed Forces had sent around 600 soldiers to the worst effected areas, and a further 350 would be sent to Zupanja to help in flood protection efforts with boats, amphibious vehicles and helicopters. Another 300 resuce workers and volunteers would come from around the country to help out.

The flooding has also closed four boarders. The border crossing of Kozarska (Bosanska) Dubica on the Bosnian side of the Croatia-Bosnia and Herzegovina border was closed to traffic on Sunday night after the bridge connecting the two countries over the Una River developed a crack. The border crossings at Bosanski Samac, Orasje and Brcko, on the border with Croatia, as well as two border crossings on the border with Serbia, were also closed to traffic earlier on Sunday.