Bulgaria under Flood Alert over Snowmelt

The southern Bulgarian village of Biser was hit by a flood wave on February 6, following a dam failure. Photo by BGNES

There is a real and huge threat of wide-spread floods in Bulgaria over the expected snowmelt, experts alarm.

During the week, the mercury in southern Bulgaria will hit the 8-10 degrees C mark, according to the national forecast, and this can lead to the mass overflowing of dams and rivers.

The government is launching constant monitoring of dams across the country and the controlled draining and letting out of waters of potentially unsafe dams, both big and small, is ongoing.

The military college in the central city of Veliko Tarnovo is preparing the launch of a program to train mayors in the region and from the country in prevention and actions in cases of disasters.

Meanwhile, the damage from the flood in the southern village of Biser on February 6 is estimated at over BGN 3 M – 55 houses have been destroyed in Biser and the nearby village of Leshnikovo after the cracked wall of the Ivanovo dam broke and submerged adjacent areas.

The amount, however, does not include the damage to the infrastructure, such as the railroad, the roads and the bridges.

The floods in southeastern Bulgaria took ten victims. The cabinet declared February 8 a national day of mourning for the victims.

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