The citizens of Novi Grad are anxiously watching the water levels of the Una and Sana rivers, but the head of the Civil Protection Department, Mirko Lukić, assures that everything is under control in case a new wave comes from Bihać.
Lukić says that last night was the most critical when the embankment gave way in the settlement of Mlakve.
“We are noticing a slight increase in Una, but I don’t expect it to have a problematic effect on the situation. We had a sleepless night last night. We received 80 reports. We expect a similar situation tomorrow. About 40 residential buildings were flooded. In addition, there are certainly twice as many auxiliary buildings such as are sheds, woodsheds and the like. Fortunately, there are no victims.”he tells MONDO.
He states that the water quickly came out of the bed and that they had to evacuate the local population.
“In the early hours of the morning, we had to evacuate 23 people, six of whom were children. This morning we evacuated 23, including three people from the weekend settlement in Rudice,” he emphasized.
Lukić explains that Novi Grad is located in a specific geographical location and is situated between two rivers.
“Just by increasing the level of one and the other river, the level of underground water in the narrower parts of the city also increases. In the elementary school ‘Sveti Sava’, as soon as the water level is over five meters, the underground water rises by one meter, flooding the school”.
He adds that along with floods, landslides and road damage create additional problems
“We had 20 reports of landslides, landslides and road damage. We cannot reach all sides. We react preventively or on call”.
He thanked the Republic Administration of Civil Protection headed by director Milan Novitović, which quickly sent help at their call.
“We received a machine for filling sandbags from Pale and a water pump from Banja Luka”.
He reminded that this is the third flood in Novi Grad in less than a year.
“We had floods in June, December and now. It can act preventively in terms of building a retaining wall and the like”says Lukić.
We remind you that the Republic of Srpska was affected by heavy rainfall in the previous days, and the municipality of Novi Grad is one of the most threatened. Today, a state of natural disaster was declared in this municipality, and classes in schools in the city were suspended.
(WORLD)