Heavy rains that flooded towns and touched off landslides left at least 14 people dead in Bosnia on Friday, authorities said.
Jablanica, some 70 kilometres (43 miles) southwest of Sarajevo, appeared to bear the brunt of the 24 hours of downpours, which cut it off from the outside world.
Photos on local media from the Jablanica region showed mudslides coming up to roofs of houses and a mosque with only its minaret sticking out.
“For now, the bodies of 14 people have been found” in the region of Jablanica, spokesman Darko Jukan told AFP, adding that the toll was likely to rise.
Jablanica “cannot be entered or exited at the moment”, a mountain rescue service said of the town of around 4,000 people.
A number of people from the area were reported missing, the authorities said while some injured were evacuated with a helicopter from the European Union peacekeeping force (EUFOR.
At mid-Friday the situation was the most critical in the village of Donja Jablanica that remained cut off, the spokesman said.
Several roads and bridges in the region collapsed, he said.
In Kiseljak, some 20 kilometres west of Sarajevo, houses, gardens and cars were under water, an AFP journalist reported.
A large part of Bosnia’s population is at risk due to heavy floods and landslides, the federal civil protection administration said in a statement.
Firefighters, police and utility companies were working in the affected areas, but more help is needed to mitigate the consequences of storms and rainfall, the federal civil protection administration warned.
Prime Minister of Bosnia’s Muslim-Croat half Nermin Niksic wrote on social media platform X that the situation was “very serious as many citizens are still trapped in their houses.
In neighbouring Croatia, weather authorities issued a warning for the northern Adriatic coast, Istria peninsula and central part of the country due to the heavy rains.
In a statement, it said that urban flooding and interruption of traffic, communications, electricity and water supply were expected.
Scientist warn that climate change worsens the impact of extreme weather events.
Torrential rains and strong winds have led to widespread flooding in central and eastern Europe last month, killing at least 24 people and devastating towns and villages.
