May 18, 2023 - The fight against the Croatia floods is ongoing, but the situation seems to be under control. During the night, it was the most difficult in Karlovac and Hrvatska Kostajnica, where a state of emergency is in effect for the rivers Korana, Kupa, and Una, said Tomislav Novosel from the Main Center for Flood Defense in Croatia.

As Index writes, prime Minister Andrej Plenković will visit Karlovac and hold a working meeting with ministers, the local community, and competent services on further activities of all components of the homeland security and civil protection system to help the population and prevent damage due to rising water levels. After the meeting, the Civil Protection Headquarters will make statements to the media and tour the surrounding areas.

The Directorate of Civil Protection announced last night that the situation in Karlovac County is serious but under control. All services are constantly on the ground, building embankments, filling additional sandbags, and distributing them to threatened areas.

The peak of the water wave was around midnight for Kupa and Korana and around 10, 11 pm for Una.

The wave in Karlovac reached 840 cm in 2 hours, the third-largest water wave since 1926. The first one was in 1939, only about 20 cm higher than this one. The Una reached 499 cm in Hrvatska Kostajnica; it is currently declining and has dropped by about 20 cm compared to midnight and its highest water wave, Novosel told Hrvatski radio.

"In the next 24 hours, we expect Kupa and Korana in Karlovac to drop by about half a meter. The weather is calming down today and tomorrow, which will help the situation to calm down on the field as well", he added.

The water level is decreasing in Hrvatska Kostajnica

The mayor of Hrvatska Kostajnica, Dalibor Bišćan, said that the water levels in the area are somewhat decreasing, but not the bypass waters, and they continue to work.

"After the extraordinary measures, there was a state of emergency caused by the high water levels, seepage through the ground, and bypass water that came into the streets, but what we successfully did in the fight itself was to reduce the water level in the streets compared to the water level in the river Una," said Bišćan for Croatian Radio.

Throughout the night, crews from volunteer firefighting companies, the Croatian Army, and subcontractors of Croatian Waters worked on replenishment, that is, monitoring the operation of the pumps themselves. At the moment, we have a slight decrease in the water level, he added.

We can say, pointed out Bišćan, "there is no tendency for these bypass waters to decrease, so we continue to work so that there is no increase again in the streets because we see that heavy rainfall causes a slight accumulation, that is, seepage, and a further inflow of water, only not from the river, but from the surrounding hills or higher terrain," said the mayor of Hrvatska Kostajnica.

He noted that he hopes the worst is over but added, "This is still half a meter higher than the situation that we can call extraordinary measures, so we have several days of fighting and maintenance ahead of us because the drop is 1 cm".

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated News section.

ZAGREB, May 16, 2019 - Environment and Energy Minister Tomislav Ćorić said on Thursday that flood protection measures were in place in areas which the flood wave was getting closer to and that last year's record-high water levels were not expected in Hrvatska Dubica and Jasenovac this year.

Answering reporters' questions about the areas where flood protection measures had been in force in the past few days, Ćorić expressed confidence that the high tide in the areas of Karlovac and Hrvatska Kostajnica had passed.

"The water level of most rivers was falling during the night. The areas that will now be under pressure are those south of Hrvatska Kostajnica, namely Dubica and Jasenovac," said Ćorić, adding that flood protection measures were in place in those areas.

"Last year's water levels of more than 900 centimetres are not expected and we believe there will be no major problems," said Ćorić, adding that he was satisfied with the flood protection measures in Hrvatska Kostajnica and Karlovac.

"Citizens, too, agree that compared to previous years, this year we had very good results in protecting properties from floods, I'm satisfied and grateful to the Croatian army, firefighting units and all other relevant institutions," he said.

Addressing a government session later in the day, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, who visited the flooded areas of Karlovac and Sisak-Moslavina counties, said that the flood protection system functioned very well compared to previous years.

More news about floods in Croatia can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, May 16, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Wednesday visited Logorište, a flooded suburb of Karlovac, saying that despite the local rivers' record high levels, water had not reached homes because one BoxBarrier by the Korana river and one by the Mrežnica had played a good flood defence role.

Plenković thanked everyone who had worked day and night to control the water at critical points, as well as the Croatian Waters company, firemen, police and local authorities for helping local residents.

He called the BoxBarriers an "effective" albeit temporary solution, saying work was under way to build a permanent flood defence system. He said Karlovac mayor Damir Mandić was talking with a technical European Union delegation today about funding for the 120 million euro project.

Environment Protection Minister Tomislav Ćorić said he was satisfied with the situation on the ground despite the fact that water had broken levies at some locations and was causing damage. He said the completion of a flood defence system would soon follow as nothing had been done over the past 30 years to deal with the overflowing of the Mrežnica and Korana rivers.

Croatian Waters director general Zoran Đurković said tenders worth 300-400 million kuna would be advertised this year for flood protection systems.

Biljana Željeznjak of Croatian Waters' Karlovac office said the water level of all four rivers running through the town was falling but that emergency measures for the Korana remained in force.

More news about flooding can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, May 14, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Tuesday commented on the threat of flooding in some parts of the country following heavy rainfall in the last few days.

He said he was in contact with Environment and Energy Minister Tomislav Ćorić and Interior Minister Davor Božinović, as well as with the head of Karlovac County, Damir Jelić.

"As I understand, based on the information from the ground, the situation in Karlovac seems to be under control. The focus now is on Hrvatska Kostajnica," the PM said.

Plenković announced that Minister Ćorić would visit Hrvatska Kostajnica in the afternoon to inspect the situation. He said that the experience with previous floods, the laws and technical measures that have been adopted and the investments undertaken in that regard already made a difference compared to last year.

An emergency has been declared in Hrvatska Kostajnica, about 90 km southeast of Zagreb where the water level of the Una river has reached 419 centimetres and is expected to reach 500 cm, 37 cm below the maximum recorded in 1955.

The head of the local civil protection service, Milko Prpić, told Hina on Tuesday morning that people and their property were not threatened so far.

Meanwhile, the situation in the flooded areas of neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina has gradually returned to normal. The situation remains difficult in Prijedor and Sanski Most in the northwest of the country where the overflowing of the Sana river is threatening hundreds of residential and business properties.

More news about floods can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, May 17, 2018 - A 1.6 million euro joint project of Croatian and Serbian institutions aimed at reducing flood risks was formally launched at the Hrvatske Vode water utility on Thursday.

ZAGREB, May 17, 2018 - A 1.6 million euro joint project of Croatian and Serbian institutions aimed at reducing flood risks was formally launched at the Hrvatske Vode water utility on Thursday.

ZAGREB, March 23, 2018 - World Water Day is observed on March 22 to highlight the importance of freshwater and to advocate for the sustainable management of freshwater resources and this year's theme – Nature for Water – explores how we can use nature to overcome the water challenges of the 21st century.

ZAGREB, March 20, 2018 - Braving very low temperatures in the conditions of extremely poor visibility, four underwater divers worked on repairing a levee on Monday afternoon and thus prevented the collapse of the embankment at the confluence of the River Una with the River Sava near the town of Jasenovac, the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service (HGSS) reported on Monday evening.

The Jasenovac area near the Sava river is in the especially dire situation.

ZAGREB, March 18, 2018 - About 30 houses were flooded in the Kosinj Valley, Perušić municipality, in the central Lika-Senj County, but local residents were being assisted and power generators were delivered to five settlements that were left without power, Hina learned at the civil protection centre in Perušić.