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Serbia: Floods Emergency Plan of Action (EPoA) n° MDRRS013

Countries
Serbia
Sources
IFRC
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A. Situation analysis

Description of the disaster

In the last two weeks, Republic of Serbia was affected by heavy rain and hailstorms. On 3 June 2019, Moravicki, Raski, Sumadijski and Pomoravski districts were affected by floods and flash floods due to the heavy rainfalls (80-100 litres per square metre). 20 cities and municipalities in the central and western parts of Serbia (Kraljevo, Novi Pazar, Paracin, Sremska Mitrovica, Knic, Arilje, Lucani, Tutin, Trstenik, Pozega, Vrnjacka banja, Koceljeva, Rekovac, Gornji Milanovac, Ljig, Cacak, Ivanjica, Aleksinac, Porkuplje and Krupanj) were reported to be affected by flash floods and floods as a consequence of the heavy rains. Several hundreds of hectares of agricultural land have been destroyed. 13 municipalities declared a state of emergency on 3 June, and following more rainfalls, additional seven municipalities declared state of emergency between 5 and 7 June 2019.

The City of Kraljevo is one of the most affected localities, heavy rains caused floods in the whole municipality. River Morava and local streams flooded fields and roads and the accumulated water damaged several rural roads and bridges.

More than 450 households in Kraljevo municipality are affected in 46 settlements from which the most affected are Sirca, Kovaci, Ribnica, Grdica, Adrani, Mrsac, Vrdila as well as the city center of the City of Kraljevo. Early morning on 3 June, one bus with children needed to be evacuated as it was surrounded by water on the road. Some of the roads and railway infrastructure in this area are impassable: more than 200 people are cut off in the settlements of Grdica, Adrani and Sirca. With the situation deteriorating on 7 June, 2,000 people had no access to safe drinking water, due to the damaged water supply system.

Another strongly affected area is the municipality of Lucani, where heavy rain falls caused flash floods in villages Vica, Vuckovica and Guca. Guca is the most flooded village in the municipality, approximately 300 households are reported to be affected, out of which, 150 people were evacuated on 3 June. They have been accommodated with their relatives and neighbors. The warehouse building of the local Red Cross branch was also flooded.
State of emergency has also been declared by the local self-government in the municipality of Knic on 3 June. In the village Gruza, 50 households were flooded.

According to the local emergency HQ in Knic, 350 people are directly affected, and 75 were evacuated from their homes. On 6 June, after additional rainfalls 1,500 people were reported to be in need of water due to the unfunctional water supply system in the area.

In municipality of Trstenik, 120 households were reported to be affected by floods on 3 June. On 6 June, around 2,500 people in different parts of the municipality were facing challenges in accessing safe drinking water.
On 3 June, early in the morning, in the municipality of Ivanjica flashfloods hit households in settlements Luke, Osonica, Prilike, Rascici and Marine reke. More than 30 households were partially damaged. One person was injured and three evacuated from their homes.

On 6 June, flash floods hit 50 households in Krupanj. Drinking water was declared unsafe in the entire municipality by the local emergency HQ. 5,000 people were reported to be in need of drinking water, including 1,500 children in schools and kindergartens.

On 6 and 7 June, in municipalities of Prokuplje and Despotovac, Cacak, Aleksinac, Gornji Milanovac, Svilajnac, Ljig, a state of emergency was also declared due to floods and water system dysfunctions, which affected in total 104 households. Electricity is partially cut due to the wet walls in houses in some settlements in Kraljevo and in 15 households in Prokuplje.
In the Municipality of Koceljeva the Rasnica and Lukinac streams overflowed flooding villages in Koceljeva Druzetic, Bresnica and Subotica. 16 Households, local kindergarten, factories, local gas station, several smaller bridges and streets were affected by floods.

In the 20 municipalities in which a state of emergency was declared, a total of 1,176 households were affected and 285 people were evacuated. Adding the number of people in need of safe water brings the total number of affected people to 11,650. Since 7 June there has not been any rainfall and the temperature has increased, therefore the situation has improved. However, according to the weather forecast, heavy rainfalls are forecasted in the same areas in the coming week, which might cause challenges in the recovery process.