Situation with the Sava in Sremska Mitrovica and Sid is good

SREMSKA MITROVICA - The situation along the swollen rivers and watercourses in the municipalities of Sremska Mitrovica and Sid, northwestern Serbia, is good, but the danger of floods is not over yet, head of the Vojvodina crisis headquarters Goran Jesic said on Thursday.

Thanks to superhuman efforts by employees of water management companies, the populated places have been protected and there is work to protect the settlements along the border, particularly from the floods in Croatia that are moving towards them through the woods, he told a news conference.

"The river Sava is slowly going down, while the rivers Bosut and Studva are rising 1 cm each hour on average, which is not a great threat," Jesic states, adding that the levees in areas of Visnjicevo and Morovic that are in danger are being reinforced.

The levees in the villages of Bosut and Sremska Raca were built according to approved designs and should hold out against the water.

"The Sava is higher than the Bosut by 182 cm and we hope that it will drop faster, so that when the two rivers are equal in level, we will be able to open the floodgate where the Bosut flows into the Sava, and that would get rid of the surplus water in the upper sections of the Bosut and bring the situation back to normal," he noted.

The two rivers are expected to reach equal water levels in 4-5 days, he pointed out.

There are 150 people divided into teams who patrol 122 km of levees, inspect them for possible damage and signal the repair crews, he remarked.

The Sava's level was 760 cm above normal in Sremska Mitrovica at noon CET on Thursday, while the Bosut was at 678 cm and Studba at 526 cm.

Photo Tanjug, S. Radovanovic