Heavy rainfall in the Black Sea resort city of Varna triggered a flood wave late on Thursday in one of its low-laying suburbs that killed at least 10 people, the mayor of Varna told the national radio.
TV footage showed smashed cars on top of each other on the streets of the suburb, where a state of emergency was declared.
"The tragedy is enormous. I am here on a street in the suburb of Aspruhovo. The street is not here, the houses are not here, there are cars on top of each other," Varna mayor Ivan Portnih said.
Electricity in the suburb was cut off, the mayor said.
In central Bulgaria, firefighters evacuated 11 people from the top of their houses in the town of Kilifarevo, police said. Thunderstorms and heavy rains flooded roads and damaged houses in several villages near the capital.
Weather forecasters said the rains that fell in the eastern regions of Varna and Burgas in the past 24 hours equaled the usual amount per month and warned new rainfall and thunderstorms were expected in northern and eastern Bulgaria on Friday.
In late May, neighboring Balkan countries Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia were hit by the heaviest rainfall since records began 120 years ago. At least 40 people were killed.
http://indian.ruvr.ru/news/2014_06_20/floods-hit-Bulgaria-10-people-killed-6623/
20/6/14
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Bulgaria declares national mourning on June 23 as death toll in Varna floods rises...
Even
as Varna and other parts of Bulgaria struggled with the aftermath of
torrential rain that has led to a number of deaths and serious damage,
the government declared June 23 a day of national mourning to honour the
memory of those who had died.
Recriminations also continued,
with sharp exchanges among rival politicians about the handling of the
situation while residents of Asparouhovo in Varna complained to
reporters about a lack of organisation in responding to the flood
crisis, exacerbated – they said – by poorly-built infrastructure.
- The number of dead in Asparouhovo was disputed, with interior minister Tsvetlin Yovchev saying that it was nine while mayor Ivan Portnih said that it was 11. Separately, mid-morning on June 20, MP Borislav Gutsanov told local media that a further body had been found in Asparouhovo.
- Damage included flooded buildings, crushed cars, a power cut lasting more than 12 hours, and disruptions in mobile communications.
20/6/14
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Varna, Dobrich floods: Discovery of body of child brings death toll to 13...
ReplyDeleteThe discovery of the body of a three-year-old girl on June 23, who was one of two children still missing after the deluge that devastated the Asparouhovo area of Bulgaria’s Black Sea city of Varna four days earlier, raised the death toll from the floods in Varna and Dobrich to 13.
By the late afternoon of June 23, a six-year-old boy was still missing. Both children are grandchildren of another of the victims of the flood. Bulgaria was in a state of official national mourning on June 23 for the flood victims.
The day saw the situation in Asparouhovo and Dobrich remaining dire.
Compulsory evacuation orders were served on 51 households by the mayor of Varna, issued because of concerns about the devastated state of the housing and predictions that the coming days could see further heavy rain.
Hundreds of volunteers were continuing to help clean up the damage, while repairs were being done to houses and infrastructure in Varna and Dobrich, but work was proceeding slowly and there were still households without electricity, local media reports said.
http://sofiaglobe.com/2014/06/23/varna-dobrich-floods-discovery-of-body-of-child-brings-death-toll-to-13/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=varna-dobrich-floods-discovery-of-body-of-child-brings-death-toll-to-13