Balkans on alert as swollen rivers due to hit new peaks

The Balkans were on alert Tuesday as swollen rivers were due to reach new peaks after days of devastating floods and landslides that have claimed at least 49 lives.

More than 1.6 million people have been affected by flooding of the river Sava and its tributaries while tens of thousands of hectares of farmland have been inundated and many houses and buildings destroyed or damaged.

These are the worst floods the central European region has suffered in a century.
In Bosnia, where more than 100,000 people have been evacuated in the worst exodus since its 1992-1995 war, thousands of volunteers were struggling to reinforce dikes along the Sava river.

Bosnia declared a day of mourning for the country's 24 dead while health authorities began disinfecting flooded areas as temperatures rise above 22 degrees Celsius (71.6 Fahrenheit) in a bid to prevent diseases from spreading.

"We will face a major fight against epidemics and infectious diseases which are inevitable after such floods," said top Bosnian official Nermin Niksic.

Bosnian Foreign Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija said more than a quarter of the country's population of 3.8 million "has been affected by the floods" after the heaviest rainfalls on record began last week.
"Right now, more than one million people have no (clean) water," he said.

In Serbia, where the Sava has already caused unprecedented havoc in the northwestern region bordering Bosnia and Croatia, thousands of volunteers were putting up fresh dykes along its banks.
- Threat of more floods -
Weather officials warned the Sava would rise further on Wednesday, threatening higher levels of the massive Danube as the Sava flows into it in the Serbian capital Belgrade.

In Belgrade, volunteers have placed some 12 kilometres (seven miles) of sandbags to prevent flooding of the Serbian capital.

In Obrenovac, one of the most affected towns in Serbia, rescuers have managed to contain the waters around the Nikola Tesla power plant which produces 50 percent of the country's electricity.

In Serbia, more than 30,000 people have been evacuated so far from the areas affected by floods, including nearly 13,600 in the region of Obrenovac, or half its population.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic told a government meeting that so far 14 deaths have been registered in Obrenovac alone, with autopsy results showing half of them drowned.

"We have been affected ten times more then the other countries in the region, but I hope the toll would not show that," Vucic said.

The death toll from the floods in the region rose to at least 49 Tuesday, with Vucic saying the latest two victims were found in Obrenovac.

Landslides claimed at least one victim in Serbia and one in Bosnia.

"Water and landslides have possibly moved some mines and taken away mine warning signs," Sasa Obradovic, an official of Bosnia's Mine Action Centre told AFP.

He warned residents to be "extremely cautious when they start cleaning their houses, land or gardens as the remaining mud could hide mines and other explosive devices brought by rivers." AFP

Bosnia floods raise danger of wartime explosives

Aerial shot shows a flooded area near the Northern-Bosnian town of Brcko on May 18, 2014 (AFP Photo/Elvis Barukcic)

Sarajevo (AFP) - In a potentially deadly side-effect to the record-breaking floods that have engulfed Bosnia, officials warned on Monday that unexploded mines left over the 1990s conflict could be dislodged and moved.

"Water and landslides have possibly moved some mines and taken away mine warning signs," said Sasa Obradovic, an official of Bosnia's Mine Action Centre.

The teams have been in the field to assess the threat and warn residents, Obradovic told AFP.

"They must be extremely cautious when they start cleaning their houses, land or gardens as the remaining mud could hide mines and other explosive devices brought by rivers."

Bosnia is still infested with more than 120,000 mines planted during the 1992-1995 war. They were often buried on the banks of rivers as demarcation lines between warring factions.
Since Wednesday, record rainfall has caused historic floods in Bosnia, Serbia and parts of Croatia, killing at least 47 people and forcing some 65,000 to abandon their homes. The most critical areas are northern parts of Bosnia around the Sava river.

Around 2.4 percent of the former Yugoslav republic's territory is still believed to be covered with unexploded mines and similar explosive devices.

Since the end of the war, landmine blasts have killed some 600 people and wounded 1,110.

In neighbouring Croatia, itself ridden with some 70,000 mines from its own 1990s conflict, the national demining centre said more than 162,000 square meters (1.7 million square feet) are considered at risk from mines in flood-affected areas.

Bosnia's mine centre said it was planning to create a regional crisis team with counterparts in Croatia and Serbia, Obradovic said.

In Serbia, most of the areas still infected with unexploded mines and bombs from 1999 NATO bombing campaign have not been affected with current floods.
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