Bulgaria – Deadly Floods in Burgas After Torrential Rain

At least 3 people died after torrential rain between 24 and 25 October triggered flooding in the province of Burgas, south east Bulgaria.

Burgas provincial government announced a state of emergency in the municipality of Kameno soon after the heavy rain began. Streets and buildings were flooded in the villages of Polski Izvor, Livada, Trastikovo and Cherni Vrah.

Later an emergency was declared for parts of Burgas municipality. According to local government statement, the districts of Gorno Ezerovo and Dolno Ezerovo and villages of Ravnets and Bratovo were among the worst affected. Local authorities have provided temporary accommodation for at least 22 people forced from their homes in Ravnets. Some flooding was also reported in Tsarevo and Karnobat municipalities.

Local media said the three fatalities occurred in Ravnets (Burgas municipality), Livada and Polski Izor (Kameno Municipality).

Some schools were closed in the area and several villages were left without electricity. For a short time emergency teams were unable to reach all of the affected places due to blocked and flooded roads.

Clean up operations are now well underway. Burgas Municipality Mayor, Dimitar Nikolov, said that initial estimates suggest damage costs of around BGN 4 million (USD 2.3 million), mostly for urgent repair of streets, bridges and other road infrastructure. Some state aid has been made available to households whose homes suffered flood damage.

Dimitar Nikolov told local media that over 60 mm of rain had fallen in a very short period of time.

Burgas Municipality said that its river monitoring system helped prevent more serious consequences. The system notified operators of increasing levels of the Chaklerish, Izvor and Malka rivers when the heavy rainfall began. Alerts were then sent to the Municipal Directorate for Crisis Management, Public Order and Security and distributed to all local authorities and mayors.

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