Flooded areas slowly normalize, 4 more days on standby

Flooded areas slowly normalize, 4 more days on standby

BELGRADE -- The night has passed peacefully in the flooded areas of Serbia, while the overall situation is stable without any critical locations identified.

Authorities and citizens will be on standby for four more days due to an announced surge wave on the Danube.

The Sava water level near Šabac is receding, but there is still danger that the river might spill over the protective barriers built along its banks.

The hardest-hit Obrenovac on Thursday had electricity restored, while store owners and a number of men were yesterday allowed to return to the town, which is now the focus of a clean up and decontamination effort.

The Bosut and Studva rivers near Morović in northwestern Serbia were rising a centimeter an hour, the RTS reported, so flood defenses are built in some areas. Evacuees from nearby villages will not be allowed to return to their homes yet.

The Kostolac power plant in the east is also safe today, as the situation with the flood waters there is described as "stable."

Help is still needed in Svijalnac, Sremska Mitrovica, Smederevska Palanka, Mali Zvornik, Krupanj.

Serbians are this Friday observing the last day of the three-day period of mourning for all those who perished in the catastrophic flood. That number currently stands at 27 casualties.