INFORMATION ABOUT THE FLOODS ON ZAVIDOVICI MUNICIPALITY AREA Featured

31 May 2014

On May 15th, 2014, the whole area of Zavidovici Municipaliyt was affected by the natural disaster in the form of vast rain that caused floods and landslides that were never seen before on this teritorry.

The level of rivers Krivaja and Bosna has started rising very quickly, getting to unibelievably high levels. The river Gostovic also got to a high level but it was in the limits which were possible to control. On the same day, it happened that the river Bosna destroyed the pedestrian bridge „Duga“, which, together with 6 pedestrian bridges on river Krivaja, is included in the total damage count on the Zavidovici Municipality area.  Regarding the bridges which enable motorised vehicle traffic, both bridges on river Bosna and one bridge on river Krivaja have suffered notable damage, which has to be fixed in order for the traffic on these bridges to be safe. Because of the outstanding levels of water on rivers Bosna and Krivaja, a large number of buildings, houses and industrial buildings (including IP Krivaja), were flooded and are left full of sludge and mud. Also, buildings with flats that are near river Bosna in the city area were flooded, and the water with sludge and mud entered apartments on bottom levels. The same situation happened in objects near river Krivaja, in which the whole ground levels wee flooded, and the regional road Zavidovici  - Olovo was flooded and blocked for traffic. Because of high water levels, the traffic in the city was also blocked.

With the gradual stopping of the rain, and lowering of the water level, the problem arised with the large quantities of sludge, mud, wood and waste that werre left in the flooded areas, roads, apartments and other affected objects. Many roads, regional and local, are destroyed by the flooding, mountain streams and vast rain. Immediately after the cease of rain, there were informations about many landslides, that are dangerous for people and for houses and other goods. According to the latest evidence, there are 185 landslides on the territory of Zavidovici, and this nomber unfortunately is not final. Most of these landslides present a danger for the residential objects, roads, and some of them already destroyed local roads and houses.

Because of all this, over 1000 people are moved from their homes, and are now in collective centers, or with family, because living in their houses is too dangerous or impossible because of destruction. Also, many local roads are blocked, so the traffic is impossible.

In the valleys, and hills, floods and vast rain have destroyed many agricultural fields, including grains, vegetables, and small fruit fields, that are the only source of income for many inhabitants.

            Currently, a lot of work is being done on fixing the damage from the floods and landslides. As it is previously said, the inhabitants from affected areas are being accomodated in collective centers, school halls, and this goes also for people whose homes are destroyed by flooding. People are being given the food and other things that are every day coming as humanitary aid from all over BiH and abroad. Cleaning of city streets is being done in order to set up traffic. In this, we have help from firefighting units from other cities, as well as numerous volunteers, citizens and students from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

            Regarding the cleaning of the landslides that cut off parts of the roads, the Municipality engaged the machines from private companies, for which there is not enough funds, and the quantity of machines is not adequate, and this presents a problem for cleaning of landslides and making roads functional. The landslides are being monitored by expert teams from Zavidovici Municipality, who are giving advice on how to stop further expanding of the landslides and protect remaining objects from destruction.

            By preliminary evaluations of the situation after the floods in the Municipality of Zavidovici, we can estimate that the damages are very high, can be masured in millions of BAM, and that the Municipality funds are unable to cover it. First of all there are residential objects of citizens who are in every way in a hard financial situation, and some of them can't even be built on the same place anymore. Further on, pedestrian bridges, local and city roads that are damaged or destroyed, and demand a lot of work in order to set up communication on Municipality area. The renewal of agriculture areas that are the source of income for many inhabitants will also take up a lot of funds, and will take a long time.

 

MUNICIPALITY MAYOR
Omerašević  Suad, dipl. ing. maš

 

HEAVY RIVER FLOODS IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA-ZAVIDOVICI

DAY AFTER DISASTER-DOBOJ

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