Several people have died in floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina and others are missing as torrential rain and landslides destroyed homes, roads and bridges across the centre of the country.
The municipality of Jablanica, about 70km (43 miles) southwest of the capital, Sarajevo, which bore the brunt of 24 hours of downpours, was completely cut off on Friday after road and railway links were destroyed.
Darko Jukan, a spokesman for the local administration, said at least 14 people had died in and around the southern town of Jablanica. Officials later said two more bodies have been found.
“There are a lot of people reported missing,” Jukan said. The civil defence of the Bosniak-Croat Federation said the death toll could rise.
Some houses had been reduced to rubble by landslides, in what appeared to be Bosnia’s worst flooding since at least 2014, when more than 20 people died in floods.
Drone footage broadcast on Bosnian media showed villages and towns completely submerged under water, while videos on social networks showed dramatic scenes of muddy torrents and damaged roads.
The town of Kiseljak, in central Bosnia, was inundated after a river burst its banks. Brown water lapped at the doors of businesses and homes, drone footage taken by the Reuters news agency showed, although the waters had begun to recede on Friday afternoon.
The cantonal government requested military help for the wider Jablanica area, and engineers, rescue units and a helicopter were deployed, including to rescue 17 people from a mental health hospital.
Several people injured were evacuated with a helicopter from the European Union peacekeeping force (EUFOR).
Al Jazeera’s correspondent Ivan Pavkovic, reporting from Grabovica, one of the affected areas near Jablanica, said floods washed away part of the main road, leaving ambulances and police cars stranded.
“They are unable to proceed any further, and traffic is entirely halted, making it impossible to access the area between Jablanica and southern Bosnia,” he said. “Ambulances are now hoping to transfer people by boat.”
Neighbouring Croatia was also hit by floods on Friday, though there were no reports of casualties. Authorities issued a severe weather warning for the Adriatic coast and central regions of the country.
Montenegro and Serbia also issued similar warnings. Floods caused by torrential rains were also reported in Montenegro, south of Bosnia, where some villages were cut off and roads and homes flooded.
