Cleanup operations in Slovenia were in full swing over the weekend after torrential rains and severe flooding ravaged the Alpine country in its worst natural disaster since independence, authorities say.
The emergency services assessed the extent of the damage as the torrential rains began to subside and the weather situation gradually returned to normal.
“This is the worst natural disaster in the (recent) history of Slovenia, it has affected two thirds of the country,” Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob said after Saturday’s meeting of the National Security Council.
It is estimated that the damage exceeds 500 million euros.
Flash floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains that began on Thursday had submerged wide swaths of central and northern Slovenia, cutting off access to towns and disrupting traffic.
The town of Crna na Koroskem, some 100 kilometers north of the capital, was one of the hardest hit and remained cut off as aid and assistance had to be airlifted in army helicopters. So far, at least three people – two Dutch citizens and one Slovenian – have been killed, and authorities recovered the body of a man on the outskirts of Ljubljana on the banks of the Sava river on Saturday.
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