Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced on his Facebook page on Sunday, 18 June that Hungary has offered assistance to Serbia, which has been hit by severe floods.
‘Our Serbian friends have been seriously affected by recent floods, and the rain just wouldn’t stop. Therefore, today I had a phone conversation with Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Siniša Mali, to offer Hungary’s assistance, as unfortunately, we also have experience with such natural disasters. My Serbian colleague informed me that it finally stopped raining today, so they are assessing the situation, and we expect their response tomorrow. We are ready to help,’ reads the minister’s Facebook post.
The number of cities and municipalities in Serbia declaring a state of emergency due to the floods has risen to thirty-three. Last Thursday night, 75 people were evacuated from critical areas. Several roads have been closed, and some bridges have collapsed due to landslides. In Kragujevac, people were evacuated by rubber boats early Friday morning. In Serbia’s fourth-largest city, rescuers helped several families leave their homes as the Lepenica River flooded their houses.
The situation is critical in Kruševac as well, where many people are stranded in their cars. Authorities used bulldozers to rescue people from flooded vehicles. A massive hole has opened on the Ibar Highway, where a bridge collapsed. The road has been closed, and traffic is being diverted. In the region, it has been raining continuously for twenty days, and the swollen river has caused significant damage. People are using sandbags to protect the settlements.
‘The bridge has suffered significant damage. It cannot be quickly restored, so we need to use alternative routes for cargo and passenger transportation until the authorities take action and build a suitable bridge,’ stated the mayor of Kraljevo. In other parts of Serbia, the battle against the swollen rivers continues. Due to weeks of ongoing rainfall, several streams and rivers have overflowed their banks. Settlements and hundreds of hectares of arable land have been submerged.
In Italy, the floodwaters have already receded, and they are now assessing the damages. One month after the flood that hit the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy, authorities estimate the losses to be around 8.5 billion euros. Agriculture is one of the most severely affected sectors, with damages reported by 12,000 farms. ‘It’s painful to see that a year’s work can be destroyed in just one day. The damage for our farm alone is 1.5 million euros due to the lost harvest, and it will cost an additional 200,000 euros for restoration,’ said one farmer. This region is one of the largest vegetable and fruit-producing areas in Italy. According to farmers, it will take at least two years for the fields to yield the same harvest as before the flood. The reduced production may also lead to further increases in prices.
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