Cyclone Gracija has hit Dalmatia bringing torrential rainfall and severe flooding across the coast, especially in Zadar area, where 242 litres of rain has fallen in just 4 hours, which is double the amount of precipitation that falls throughout the entire month of September on average
Due to the severe situation in Zadar, Croatian state leadership, including Grabar Kitarović, Plenković, Krstičević and Božinović have headed or will soon head over to the flooded city of Zadar, reports Jutarnji.hr on September 11, 2017.
President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović is on her way to Zadar where she will meet with the representatives of local government and crisis units. Because of the decision to urgently depart to Zadar, the activities planned for today have been shortened. Before the trip to Zadar, Grabar-Kitarović will receive credentials from the new papal nuncio in Croatia Giuseppe Pinta. As scheduled, the president will travel to Hungary on an official visit tomorrow, where she will meet with leading Hungarian politicians and, among other things, discuss the Hungary’s decision not to support Croatia’s entry into the OECD.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović, as well as Defense Minister Damir Krstičević, have arrived in Zadar around 3 P.M
Photo: 24sata reader
“The government will be of the utmost assistance. We are still expecting damage estimates, after which the county prefect will most likely declare the Zadar County a disaster area due to the amount of rainfall and damage that occurred,” said Prime Minister Plenković after attending the meeting of Civil Protection Headquarters in Zadar, where they discussed the state and the damages which were caused by the heavy rainfall.
Plenkovic also warned citizens to boil water before using it, reports 24sata. “Due to the heavy rain, the water purifier has been flooded. For public safety and health of everyone, please boil water before drinking it,” said Plenković.
Due to heavy rain, which caused floods in the Zadar area during the night and in the morning, 300 members of the Croatian Armed Forces are on standby, who are in the barracks in Benkovac and in the barracks Zemunik, MORH said. Thirteen heavy duty trucks for the transportation of persons, six work machines that can serve as a cleansing platform and 14 mobile water pumping pump capacity of 700 litres per minute have been sent to help the flooded areas from the barracks in Sinj and Benkovac.
N1 screenshot
UPDATE: The president arrives in Zadar
“We will take a look at everything now, check to see the damage and how many citizens have been affected,” the president said. After seeing the flooded areas, the president said that it reminded her a bit of her own hometown, Rijeka, reports N1.
“Only our configuration of the terrain is different, over there the floods pass by fast, the water does not retain for so long as it does here. All the praise for hard work goes to the firefighters, who now have a different kind of task at their hands after putting out fires during the summer season. Unfortunately, there seems to be no rest for them as we have all hoped for, but the important thing is that people are safe and that the material damage is as small as possible,” said Grabar Kitarović.
Translated from Jutarnji.hr, 24sata and N1
