More Than One Million Suffer Worst Flooding In Over A Century

At least 25 people are dead and tens of thousands more are without water or electricity as record rainfall in the Balkan countries of Bosnia and Serbia has led to the worst flooding in 120 years of data.

Three months' worth of rain fell in three days last week, causing almost a third of Bosnia to resemble a muddy lake. Those spared direct flooding have been hit by one of around 300 landslides occurring in the last several days. Bosnian Security Ministry spokesman Admir Malagic said that about one million people, more than a quarter of the country's population, inhabit the affected area.

"Bosnia is facing a horrible catastrophe," said Bakir Izetbegovic, the chairman of the Bosnian three-man presidency. "We are still not fully aware of actual dimensions of the catastrophe … we will have to take care of hundreds, thousands of people."

Beyond the elements of natural disaster, the floods are uprooting or otherwise jeopardizing the more than 100,000 landmines left over from the regional conflict in the 1990s.
"The torrential rain, floods and landslides are likely to cause the mines to move," writes Guy De Launey of BBC News. "Warning signs have already been washed away in a number of places. When the floods finally recede, there will be an urgent need for the deminers to move in."

Global warming continues to take its global toll