Serbia

Thousands of rescuers in boats and police and army in helicopters are trying to prevent further damage in the town of Obrenovac, south of Belgrade, after the Kolubara river burst its banks and flooded 90 per cent of the town.

The Interior Ministry said more than 4,000 people had been evacuated already from Obrenovac, and more requests for evacuation are coming.

PM in dramatic appeal to "defend town at any cost"

BELGRADE -- Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić late on Friday described the situation in Serbia, struck by severe flooding, as "catastrophic."

He said the number of victims in Obrenovac was "not small," and warned that the town of Šabac - upstream from Belgrade on the Sava River - "must be defended at any cost."

Russia launches large-scale humanitarian operation

MOSCOW -- Russian Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov has announced that his country had launched a large-scale humanitarian operation to help Serbia.

Serbia is experiencing the worst flooding in over a century.

Two people have died, several are missing and 7,618 have been evacuated during the floods in Serbia in the past two days and the battle against the rising waters still rages.

Serbia battles floods, more than 7,600 evacuated

BELGRADE -- More than 7,618 people have been evacuated in Serbia in the past two days as the country battles severe flooding, the Interior Ministry has announced.

BELGRADE - Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday the number of victims of the floods in the country was significant and called on the people to help save those threatened by the rising waters.

BELGRADE - The U.S. Embassy in Belgrade expressed deep sympathy with thousands of Serbian citizens hit by floods and released that it has set aside USD 100,000 worth of assistance for the purpose.

SABAC - The Sabac headquarters for emergencies has proposed that the road between Sabac and Sremska Mitrovica be closed because the Sava water level near that industrial city in western Serbia has risen by 80 percent in one day.

Preparations for protecting the city from the flood are under way, because the Sava is expected to reach a historic high in the next 48 hours.

VELIKI CRLJENI - The fire in the thermal power plant Kolubara within the Nikola Tesla thermal power complex has been extinguished in flood-hit Obrenovac and nobody was injured, Serbian Minister of Energy and Mining Aleksandar Antic said.

BELGRADE - The House of Culture as the temporary palace in which the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was declared in 1918, opened on Friday before numerous audience.