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PHOTO GALLERY: Record floods 'worst natural disaster' in Slovenia in over 30 years




This photograph taken on August 5, 2023 shows houses flooded by the rising water of the river Krka, in the village of Loce, south-east Slovenia. Three people have died after flooding and landslides caused by heavy rains cut off access to villages and disrupted traffic in northeastern and central Slovenia as the country s environment agency issued the highest red alert warning due to the heavy rainfall. AFP

This photograph taken on August 5, 2023 shows a corn field flooded by the rising water of the river Krka, near the village of Loce, south-east Slovenia. Three people have died after flooding and landslides caused by heavy rains cut off access to villages and disrupted traffic in northeastern and central Slovenia as the country s environment agency issued the highest red alert warning due to the heavy rainfall. AFP

A picture taken on August 5, 2023 shows a flooded area in front of Saint Nicholas church as the river Krka overflowed near the village of Drama, south-east Slovenia. Torrential rains and severe floods brought havoc to the Alpine country in its worst natural disaster since independence. AFP

A picture taken on August 5, 2023 shows a flooded sunflower in front of in front of Saint Nicholas church as the river Krka overflowed near the village of Drama, south-east Slovenia. Torrential rains and severe floods brought havoc to the Alpine country in its worst natural disaster since independence. AFP

A collapsed bridge is seen in village Stahovica, near the town of Kamnik, Slovenia, Friday, Aug. 4, 2023. Slovenia has faced the worst-ever natural disaster in its history, Prime Minister Robert Golob said Saturday, after devastating floods caused damage estimated at half a billion euros ($550 million). AP

This photograph taken on August 5, 2023 shows houses flooded by the rising water of the river Krka, in the village of Loce, south-east Slovenia. Three people have died after flooding and landslides caused by heavy rains cut off access to villages and disrupted traffic in northeastern and central Slovenia as the country s environment agency issued the highest red alert warning due to the heavy rainfall. AFP

A picture taken on August 5, 2023 shows a flooded sunflower as the river Krka overflowed near the village of Drama, south-east Slovenia, after torrential rains and severe floods brought havoc to the Alpine country in its worst natural disaster since independence. AFP

This photograph taken on August 5, 2023 shows a flooded basketball court in Krsko, south-east Slovenia on August 5, 2023. Three people have died after flooding and landslides caused by heavy rains cut off access to villages and disrupted traffic in northeastern and central Slovenia as the country s environment agency issued the highest red alert warning due to the heavy rainfall. AFP

A view of flooded business district near town of Kamnik, Slovenia, Friday, Aug. 4, 2023. Slovenia has faced the worst-ever natural disaster in its history, Prime Minister Robert Golob said Saturday, after devastating floods caused damage estimated at half a billion euros ($550 million). AP

CORRECTION / This photograph taken on August 5, 2023 shows houses flooded by the rising water of the river Krka, in the village of Loce, south-east Slovenia. Three people have died after flooding and landslides caused by heavy rains cut off access to villages and disrupted traffic in northeastern and central Slovenia as the country s environment agency issued the highest red alert warning due to the heavy rainfall. AFP

This photograph taken on August 5, 2023 shows a man looking at the houses flooded by the rising water of the river Krka, in the village of Loce, south-east Slovenia. Three people have died after flooding and landslides caused by heavy rains cut off access to villages and disrupted traffic in northeastern and central Slovenia as the country s environment agency issued the highest red alert warning due to the heavy rainfall. AFP

As heavy rainfall started to ease, with the weather situation gradually normalising, the extent of the damage caused by the devastating floods was being assessed.

"This is the worst natural disaster in Slovenia's (recent) history, it has affected two thirds of the country," Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob said after Saturday's National Security council meeting.

The scale of the damage from the floods is estimated to exceed half a billion euros, Golob said.

Flash floods and landslides caused by heavy rainfall that started Thursday had submerged large swaths of central and northern Slovenia, cutting off access to villages and disrupting traffic.

So far at least three people -- two Dutch citizens and a Slovenian -- have died, Slovenian news agency STA reported, with authorities retrieving a man's body on the outskirts of Ljubljana on the banks of the Sava river Saturday.

"According to initial information, his death might have been caused by the floods," STA quoted a police statement as saying.

The Krsko nuclear power plant next to the swelling Sava river terminated the notice of "unusual event" declared late Friday, after the river's level had lowered again.

The town of Crna na Koroskem, some 100 kilometres north of the capital, was one the worst-hit and remained cut off, as aid and assistance had to be air-lifted by army helicopters.

Closer to the capital in the town of Kamnik, where a Slovenian woman had reportedly died in the floods, many roads were still closed, with several areas cut off.

In the nearby village of Menges, severely flooded on Friday, rescue workers and residents were busy with cleaning up.

"First we heard a siren, then another, and then it was like a tsunami," a man in his 50s standing in front of his damaged house told AFP.

"Water just poured in through the kitchen rapidly... our only solution was to take the children to the upper floor and wait to be rescued," Mateja Hribar Ziherl, head of the flooded local kindergarten told AFP.

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