Bosnian Towns Present Flood Damage Claims

The Mayor of the northeastern Bosnian town of Bijeljina, Mico Micic, has estimated the cost of flood damage to the town at around 200 million euro.

On Wednesday, he said the devastating floods in May damaged more than 11,000 sites, 7,000 to 8,000 of which were people's homes. Farmland was also destroyed.

Local authorities in Maglaj, in central Bosnia, meanwhile estimated the cost of repairing the damage to their town at around 50 million euro.

“This is the town that EU experts say suffered most in the floods in May,” the Mayor, Mehmed Mustabasic, said on June 11.

He noted that the town, which was almost completely submerged at one point, was in the final phase of cleaning up, after which the reconstruction of houses and apartments is to follow.

Around 2,000 homes were flooded in Maglaj of which around 120 were totally destroyed. Schools, medical facilities as well as other items of infrastructure were destroyed as well.

The Prime Minister of Tuzla Canton, Bahrija Umihanic, put the cost of damage from floods and landslides at around 260 million euro in the canton.

The areas around Maglaj, Doboj, Samac, Bijeljina and Brcko in northern, eastern and central Bosnia were among the worst hit by the floods in Bosnia.

In some places, the floodwater reached six metres deep after it overspilled the banks of the rivers Bosna and Sava.

The rivers Drina, Vrbas, Una and Sana also flooded areas around them. Authorities said that one-fifth of the territory of Bosnia was submerged at the worst point.

Estimates of the total damage in Bosnia caused by the floods are still being drawn up and are likely to be published next week ahead of the planned donors conference. This may take place in the...