The latest from flood-hit Karlovac.
The levels of river Korana and Kupa in Karlovac have been falling since yesterday evening, and it is expected that the worst is now over for that city. At 7 pm, levels of Kupa and Korana fell by two centimetres, to 852 and 849 centimetres respectively. In the last two weeks, more than 200 litres of rain per square meter were recorded in Karlovac, while the average for the entire month of October is just 90 litres, reports Vecernji List and Index.hr on October 16, 2015.
Karlovac Protection and Rescue Office is coordinating all the activities of emergency services and volunteers. More than 250 workers with heavy equipment have been employed to build emergency levees and barriers. Hrvatske vode have announced that their employees are monitoring flood defence facilities at rivers Kupa and Korana in Karlovac and that they have enough resources for all eventualities.
Karlovac County prefect Ivan Vučić declared the city of Karlovac a disaster area due to landslides. County prefect chief of staff Bernardo Pahor said that the declaration of a natural disaster area due to the flooding will be made after the water wave passes through the county, when the extent of the damage will be visible.
Due to the latest floods, citizens of Karlovac are furious with ministers and government. “Where is minister Jakovina, who arrived here from Zagreb a few days ago and told us there would be no flooding? He should resign, if not due to ignorance, then out of respect for us”, said an angry citizen. “We feel abandoned and betrayed. They have built the levees to protect the water purifier, and we are flooded now. It turns out that EU projects are more important than our homes.”
People in Donje Mekušje cannot get out of their yards. Water has entered their basements, and they are now pumping it out. “We are completely cut off. God forbid someone gets sick, doctors would not be able to come here. This is Croatian reality”, said a local citizen.
Desperate villagers in Logorište are also completely cut off from the world, and the water in their homes is in some places over a metre deep. “Do not even ask us about the damage”, said a desperate woman. Some people had only just finished renovating their homes, and now they will have to do it all over again. They say that this part of Karlovac should be called Venice.
Serbian prime minister Aleksandar Vučić offered emergency aid to prime minister Zoran Milanović due to the floods which have hit Croatia. “It is with great sadness that we have received the news of the devastating floods that have made heavy damage in Croatia. The Serbian government is ready, if you consider it necessary, to help Croatia with special teams trained to act in emergency situations and to provide material assistance in the reconstruction of flood-devastated areas”, wrote Vučić in his letter.
In other parts of Croatia, there were some problems with raising water levels, but nothing which could compare with the situation in and around Karlovac, which is the largest Croatian city which does not have a fully developed flood defences, even though there are as many as four rivers in the city.
