Geography of Bulgaria

Bulgaria's Ministry of Environment and Waters has warned on Monday of possible sudden local floods in the next few days.

Based on the current meteorological situation, the levels of the rivers Arda, Maritsa and Tundzha are expected to go up on Monday and Tuesday.

Waters may rise due to the controlled drainage of micro-dams, the press center of the Environment Ministry informs.

Varna Chief Architect Viktor Buzev said Monday that more than 50% of houses in flood-stricken Asparuhovo district were illegally built.

The renovation of the infrastructure destroyed by the floods in northeastern Bulgaria will cost between BGN 10 and 15M, according to the Road Infrastructure Agency estimates.

A crack is widening in a dam near the village of Novo Botevo, kilometers away from Varna where eleven people died in Thursday's flash floods, local officials say.

Transport Minister Danail Papazov has suggested that the illegal construction in the gully near Varna's Asparuhovo district is to blame for the tragic consequences of the flood.

The Asparuhovo residential district of Bulgaria’s Black Sea city of Varna reported a death toll of 11 after heavy rain and severe flooding on Thursday.

Varna Mayor Ivan Portnih has said that the local authorities are issuing orders for forced evacuation as some people refuse to leave their homes.

In a Sunday interview for the Bulgarian National Television, Portnih informed that the local authorities had prepared for emergency evacuations due to the refusal of people living in dangerous buildings to leave them.

Two children are still missing after the floods ravaged Varna's Asparuhovo district, another person has been reported missing, too.

So far, 11 people have died as a result of the torrential rains in Bulgaria's port city of Varna. For the past day, firefighters responded to more than 120 calls in the Varna region, 54 of them concerned the Asparuhovo district.

A nationwide campaign has raised more than BGN 500,000 for the victims of the floods in northeastern Bulgaria, Saturday.

The money has been raised through sms donations containing the text "DMS VARNA" to the short code 17 777 and will be used to aid all flood-hit areas in the country.

The state of emergency in all flood-affected settlements in Bulgaria's Veliko Tarnovo region has been lifted, the regional governor Georgi Rachev informed.

The drainage activities of the buildings and the cleaning of streets and bridges continue after the floods, Bulgarian Telegraph Agency reports.

The floods that hit northeastern Bulgaria will have negative impact on the tourism, the crops and the infrastructure, according to Deputy Prime Minister Daniela Bobeva.