Deadly floods, landslides in Bosnia leave at least 14 dead

At least 14 people have died and several others are missing following severe floods and landslides in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday, officials said.

Torrential rains destroyed homes, roads, and bridges, particularly affecting the municipality of Jablanica, located 70 km southwest of Sarajevo. The town has been completely cut off after road and railway links were destroyed, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.

Bosnia's inter-ethnic presidency - a Bosniak, Serb and Croat tripartite - said it 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 hospital.

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 died in floods.

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 Reuters showed, although the waters had begun to recede on Friday afternoon.

The Civil Defense of the Bosniak-Croat Federation suggested the toll could rise.

"There is information about casualties and a number of injured and missing," it said in a statement.
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 issued similar warnings.

News.Az