ReliefWeb

A. Situation analysis

Description of the disaster

In the last two weeks of May 2019, 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 meter). 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, Prokuplje 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 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 was 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. First days from disaster more than 450 households in Kraljevo municipality were affected in 46 settlements from which the most affected were Sirca, Kovaci, Ribnica, Grdica, Adrani, Mrsac, Vrdila as well as the city center of the City of Kraljevo. Some of the roads and railway infrastructure in this area were impassable: more than 200 people were 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. In total 1,100 households in Kraljevo reported damages duo to floods happened in June 2019.

Another strongly affected area was the municipality of Lucani, where heavy rain falls caused flash floods in villages Vica, Vuckovica and Guca. Guca was the most flooded village in the municipality, approximately 300 households were reported to be affected, out of which, 150 people were evacuated on 3 June. They have been accommodated with their relatives and neighbours. The warehouse building of the local Red Cross branch was also flooded. By the end of the DREF operation, four people were still out of their houses. According to the assessment conducted by the Red Cross and local emergency headquarters, in total 551 people were affected in this region.

State of emergency was also 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 not functional water supply system in the area. In total, after additional assessments and it was identifies that 4,500 people were affected by this disasters in this region.

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 in this region.

On 3 June, early in the morning, in the municipality of Ivanjica flash floods 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. Till the end of the operation, 82 households in total in Ivanjica reported damages from this disaster.

On 6 June, flash floods hit several households in Krupanj. Based on later assessments done by the local Red Cross branch and emergency headquarters, a total of 99 households were affected. 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.