3 people die in Serbia as a second deadly storm rips through the Balkans this week
A fallen tree on a damaged parked car after a powerful storm, in Zagreb, Croatia, Wednesday, July 19, 2023. A powerful storm with strong winds and heavy rain hit Croatia and Slovenia on Wednesday, killing at least three people and injuring several others. Credit: AP
BELGRADE, Serbia — Three people died in Serbia during another deadly storm that ripped through the Balkans this week, local media said on Saturday.
The storm on Friday first swept through Slovenia, moving on to Croatia and then Serbia and Bosnia, with gusts of wind and heavy rain. Authorities reported power distribution issues and extensive damage — including fallen trees — that destroyed cars and rooftops.
On Wednesday, another storm killed six people in the region, four in Croatia, one in Slovenia and another in Bosnia.
Meteorologists said the storms were of such powerful magnitude because they followed a string of extremely hot days. Experts say extreme weather conditions are likely fueled by climate change.
In the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad, a 12-year-old was found dead in the street during the storm but it remains unclear whether he was struck by lightning or was electrocuted, said the official RTS television.
Local media say Novi Sad was hit the hardest, with the storm damaging the roof of the city’s exhibition hall. Some 30 people have sought medical help and many streets remain blocked on Saturday morning.
In the village of Kovacica, in northeastern Serbia, a woman died from smoke inhalation after a fire erupted when lightning hit a tree by her house, the RTS said.
Firefighters remove fallen tree branches from damaged parked car after a powerful storm, in Zagreb, Croatia, Wednesday, July 19, 2023. A powerful storm with strong winds and heavy rain hit Croatia and Slovenia on Wednesday, killing at least three people and injuring several others. Credit: AP
Serbian police said on Saturday that a man died in the northwestern town of Backa Palanka after he tried to remove power cables that fell on his house gate.
In Croatia, the storm wreaked havoc in various parts of the country, as authorities were already scrambling to control the damage left by Wednesday's storm.
“We work night and day, no stopping,” Nermin Brezovcanin, a construction worker in the capital Zagreb, told the official HRT TV.
Several people were injured in a tourist campsite in the northern Istria peninsula packed with visitors from abroad during summer. Croatia’s Adriatic Sea coastline and islands attract millions of tourists each summer.
People check the damage after a powerful storm, in Zagreb, Croatia, Wednesday, July 19, 2023. A powerful storm with strong winds and heavy rain hit Croatia and Slovenia on Wednesday, killing at least four people and injuring several others, police and local media outlets said. Credit: AP
Slovenia says storms have also hugely damaged forests in the Alpine nation and warned of potential flash floods.
Elsewhere in Europe, a continuing heat wave caused wildfires and public health warnings.
'It's definitely a destination' NewsdayTV's Doug Geed takes us "Out East," and shows us the Long Island Aquarium, a comfort food restaurant in Baiting Hollow, a Riverhead greenhouse and Albert Einstein's connections to the East End.
'It's definitely a destination' NewsdayTV's Doug Geed takes us "Out East," and shows us the Long Island Aquarium, a comfort food restaurant in Baiting Hollow, a Riverhead greenhouse and Albert Einstein's connections to the East End.
