At least 21 people die in the floods in Bosnia and dozens are missing

Reuters
—

Rescuers dug through the rubble in the village of Donja Jablanica on Saturday morning for people missing in Bosnia's deadliest floods in years, which hit the Balkan country on Friday.

N1 TV reported that 21 people died and dozens were missing in the Jablanica area, 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) southwest of Sarajevo.

The government will hold a press conference later.

“Some villages in the area are still inaccessible and we don’t know what we will find there,” said a spokesman for the mountain rescue service, whose teams are involved in the search.

According to Bosnian media, heavy rain stopped the search overnight, but when it stopped the search continued. In Donja Jablanica, many houses were still under rubble.

Nezima Begovic, 62, was lucky. Her house is damaged, but she came out unharmed.

“I heard people screaming and suddenly everything was quiet. Then I said everyone there was dead,” she told Reuters.

Due to a flash flood, a quarry above Donja Jablanica collapsed on Friday, pouring rubble over houses and cars in the village.

Enes Imamovic, 66, said he was woken up by loud noises around 5 a.m. Friday (11 p.m. ET Thursday).

“Everything was white (from the stones and dust that fell from the quarry), my friends' house was gone. I heard screams,” Imamovic told Reuters.

The Bosnian Football Association (NFSBIH) has postponed all games due to flooding.

Bosnia's electoral commission has decided to postpone this weekend's local elections in flood-affected municipalities, but to continue voting elsewhere.

The floods are the result of an unprecedented summer drought that dried up many rivers and lakes and affected agriculture and water supplies to urban areas in the Balkans and much of Europe.

Meteorologists said extreme weather changes are due to climate change.