July the 28th, 2023 – The violent storms we’ve been experiencing on and off over recent days have damaged more than one million Croatian trees. Many of them were torn down entirely by the strong winds.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the huge storms that hit the country over the past few days took several human lives, caused considerable material damage to buildings and houses, agricultural land, and and forests.
Vinkovci suffered the most damage
The head of the Production and Development Service of Croatian Forests/Hrvatske šume, Mladen Slunjski, told HRT that according to estimates, which are updated daily, the current damage is one million and four hundred thousand cubic metres. The most damage was recorded in the area of Vinkovci, as well as in Gradiška, Bjelovar, Zagreb, Požega, Osijek, Gospić and Sinj.
Slunjski said that the total annual production volume of Croatian forests is five million two hundred thousand cubic metres.
“More than a quarter of the total amount of cubic metres has been damaged. The problem is that it is most concentrated in Vinkovci, because that’s where the largest amount of Croatian trees suffered. And that’s two years of regular business for the Vinkovci branch of Croatian Forests,” he said.
Dealing with this could take up to two years
The head of the Service for Production and Development of Croatian Forests emphasised that there will be disruptions to come. They have inspected and removed many Croatian trees which had fallen down onto the roads, and are putting together plans to complete these tasks in the shortest possible time. That said, rehabilitation could take up to two years.
All of the roads should be cleared very soon
The head of the Service for Production and Development of Croatian Forests added that more than three thousand people were engaged in rehabilitation efforts since the storm. These employees helped members of the Civil Protection Directorate in removing the consequences of the storms, including stricken Croatian trees in settlements and on roads.
All of the affected roads should be cleared by the end of the week. Slunjski assured that roads on Medvednica have now all been cleared of fallen debris.
Parks are also being cleared of debris
Damages are currently being repaired in city parks as well. Slunjski added that people should follow the measures and that they must leave it to the professionals to do their jobs for safety reasons.
Dujić: More than a million Croatian trees died
The new President of the Board of Croatian Forests, Nediljko Dujić, pointed out that the storm that swept across Croatia last week, from Istria to Ilok, caused damage estimated at one and a half million cubic metres. That’s more than a million Croatian trees. Most of the damage is, once again, in the area of Vukovar-Srijem County. The total damage to the country’s forests currently stands at 140 million euros.
Dujić added that Croatian Forests’ services made available to people and the Civil Protection Directorate immediately after the most damaging storm had passed on the 19th of July. The roads were cleaned, and a meeting with the competent ministries was held. The Croatian Forest Plan, which was accepted at the beginning of the year, must be changed urgently in order to relieve certain areas where there are healthy forests, and the forests affected by the storm must be rehabilitated properly.
“We have to act urgently to harmonise the plans for forest restoration”, he pointed out.
Damir Miškulin, head of the Zagreb branch of the Croatian Forests, told HRT that about 75 thousand cubic metres, or about thirty thousand trees, had died in the wider Zagreb area alone. However, this is still the first estimate. Over the coming days, after the roads are cleaned, a more realistic picture of the extent of the damage will be known.
Please stay away from forested areas, as well as parks
While the situation is not a catastrophic one, there are still safety concerns and as such – measures to attempt to mitigate them. People are still being advised not to go to Sljeme and other forests and parks for the time being because these areas are still not safe.
