Heavy rains caused flash floods and landslides in parts of Slovenia, blocking roads and bridges, flooding buildings and forcing evacuations on Friday.
Slovenia's environmental agency, ARSO, raised the weather alert after a month's amount of rain fell within 24 hours in northern, northwestern and central parts of the country. The Alpine nation was hit by several severe storms earlier in the summer that blew off roofs, downed thousands of trees and killed one person in Slovenia and four others elsewhere in the region.
Experts say extreme weather conditions are partly fuelled by climate change. Parts of Europe saw record heat and battled wildfires during the summer. The floods overnight Thursday to Friday in Slovenia blocked roads around the scenic central town of Kamnik. Authorities there urged people to stay in their homes and closed kindergartens for the day.
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The official STA news agency reported evacuations in several parts of the country, including camping sites. The report offered no other details. Landslides were reported in the northwest Gorenjska region. Regional civil protection commander Klemen Smid said the “entire Gorenjska is under water.”
More than 100 buildings including a sports hall were flooded in the central area around the town of Skofja Loka where roads were blocked and landslides threatened to cause further damage, STA said.
Authorities also urged people in the western town of Idrija not to leave their homes unless absolutely necessary. The Administration for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief recorded more than 1,000 weather-related incidents within 12 hours across the country, STA said.
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Throughout the night, firefighters were busy pumping water from flooded buildings, rescuing flooded vehicles, removing debris from under bridges and securing landslides, the administration said.
