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World|life|May 16, 2014 / 12:11 PM
Five dead as worst floods in 120 years hit Serbia, Bosnia

AKIPRESS.COM - 2014-05-15T143831Z_65589215_GM1EA5F1P3701_RTRMADP_3_BOSNIA The heaviest rains and floods in 120 years have hit Bosnia and Serbia, killing five people, forcing hundreds out of their homes and cutting off entire towns.

The five casualties, one of them a firefighter on a rescue mission, drowned in Serbia. Bosnia and Serbia declared a state of emergency, while the Serbian Orthodox church said it would hold special prayers in Belgrade for the rain to stop, the Reuters said.

"This is the greatest flooding disaster ever. Not only in the past 100 years; this has never happened in Serbia's history," Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic told a news conference. "More rain fell in one day than in four months."

In Bosnia, army helicopters evacuated dozens of people stranded on the top floors of their flooded homes in the central town of Maglaj, where the Bosna river swelled to record levels and swept away the main bridge. Rescuers used boats to reach stranded victims.

Doctors said one man in eastern Bosnia died of a heart attack while trying to save his cattle from drowning.

Special police were trying to reach the northern Bosnian town of Doboj, which was cut off from the rest of the country after all major roads out were flooded.

The Bosnian government ordered the defense ministry to use troops to help thousands of civilians whose homes were engulfed by water, particularly in the central and eastern regions.

"This is the worst rainfall in Bosnia since 1894, when weather measurements started to be recorded," said Zeljko Majstorovic, a Sarajevo meteorologist. He said the rain, which began on Tuesday, would continue until the end of the week.

Many roads were deluged and towns and villages completely cut off. Schools were closed across both countries.

Today, the  Russian Emergencies Ministry sent rescuers to flood-hit Serbia, the ministry’s spokesman Alexander Drobyshevsky told ITAR-TASS.

At the request of Serbia's authorities, the Russian Emergencies Ministry was sending rescuers of the Tsentrospas airmobile team and the Leader special risk rescue operations center, he said.

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