Bosnia Floods Claim Lives, Force Thousands From Homes

At least nine more victims of the severe floods that have struck Bosnia this week were reported at the weekend. Police said six bodies had been recovered in Doboj, northern Bosnia, as flood waters receded. Three other deaths were reported in Maglaj and Samac.

Earlier, a man reportedly drowned in Sanski Most, northwest Bosnia, on Friday. In Bijeljina, northeast Bosnia, a man died when his house partly collapsed due to floods and landslides.

Another woman died in her home during a landslides in Cerska, near Vlasenica, eastern Bosnia. Another victim, a pensioner, reportedly died of a heart attack on Thursday when he rushed to save his livestock near Bratunac, eastern Bosnia.

Elsewhere, several hundred people have been evacuated from homes in Zeljezno Polje near Zepce, Maglaj, Bijeljina and elsewhere.

These towns as well as Doboj, Kljuc, Sanski Most and areas around Banja Luka remain flooded.

As a slow normalization of the situation in towns such as Olovo or Maglaj was reported, matters continued to worsen in the north of the country.

In Bijeljina, the level of the river Sava threatens to rise further, potentially endangering the whole region with flooding.

Ilija Jezidjic, member of the civil protection force in Bosnia's northern Posavina Canton, said the focus now was on keeping the Sava from overflowing.

“The Sava has risen to the top of the embankments and we are defending them with sandbags," he said. "We would already be swimming if we didn't do that,” he said. “We are battling for the embankments, otherwise not a centimetre will stay dry.”

  Photo AP/ Amel Emric

The mayor of Bijeljina, Mico Micic, said the Sava had already started overflowing in the Batkovici area, near the town...