After several months of drought, Zadar was hit with heavy rainfall that the city has seen in a very long time.

After several months of drought, Zadar was hit heavy rainfall, that the city has seen in a very long time: more rain has fallen in the two hours than in the previous two months -190 litres per square meter. Many people in Zadar struggled and waded to work this morning after the storm tore through the city, dumping torrents of rain and swamping transport networks.

Roads, cellars, business premises, buses, schools are all flooded by heavy rain that hit Zadar this morning. Parts of Zadar hospital has also been flooded as well as Krešimir Ćosić sports hall.The heavy rain caused a traffic collapse and has left few neighbourhoods without electricity and water, and with phone lines and the Internet cut off. The rain is still falling and, according to the weather forecast, will continue to fall even more by the end of the day. All emergency services are unavailable to comment at the moment due to the alarming situation, since all available staff are on the field. Although it is true that every bit of rain causes major problems in the city, such heavy rainfall is 'unprecedented'. Is torrential rainfall the only cause of such heavy flash flooding? Many are pointing fingers at the Odvodnja company and their poor drainage and sewage system.

The damage caused by the flood will be great. All the ground floor business premises located at Relja, Jazine and Lipotica are ruined, and the situation is similar elsewhere in the city. Antena reporters claim with certainty that Novi Bokanjac is experiencing similar problems. Presumably, few are insured, since nobody could have anticipated or expected such a thing to happen. While the eyes of the Croatian public were focused on the mainstream media coverage of the Hurricane Irma in the US, Gracija cyclone hit Croatia and caught us all unprepared.

Supernova shopping centre suffered substantial damage: the water filled the underground garage and captured the cars, and it even came to the escalator leading to the ground floor of the centre and very close to the store. "Supernova will be closed all day due to the heavy flood. We hope will be able to open tomorrow," said the director of Supernova Center Zadar, Iva Surić.

Due to severe floods and rain, several schools have cancelled classes.

Ezadar reader

Photo: Dalmacija Danas

Photo: Dalmacija Danas

Photo: Jadran Božić

Translated from Antena Zadar