Flash floods in Bosnia prompt evacuations and school closures

Flash flooding has caused evacuations and closed schools in parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Heavy rain on Friday submerged a number of local and country roads around the capital Sarajevo, leaving many without power.

The power transmission company, Elektroprijenos, said the heavy rain was hindering attempts to get the power rerouted.

Homes and roads were also flooded in the southwest of the country, prompting some schools to cancel classes.

Dozens of people had to be evacuated from their homes in the Sarajevo suburb of Otes and in the city of Konjic, some 50 kilometers further southwest.

A residential care home for elderly people and a plant filling oxygen tanks for hospitals treating COVID-19 patients were also evacuated.

The rain started late on Thursday and forecasts say it will continue to fall until Sunday, raising fears of a repeat of record flooding that affected about a third of the population in 2014.

“The situation is bad and we do not expect it to improve soon,” said Danis Memagic, a firefighter coordinating evacuations in the area of the Bosnia and Tilava rivers.

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