Society, / By STA

The Drava river and its contributories have flooded many towns and villages, after Austria decided to release water from an upstream dam. Progressing downstream, the flood wave has flooded hundreds of homes and industrial buildings. Water levels are expected to remain high throughout the night.

Currently the situation is the worst in the village of Duplek, where between 250 and 300 homes have been flooded, as the flood wave hit the area. Domestic animals had to be evacuated from five farms.

High waters are now expected to reach Ptuj, where Drava flow is to reach a record 3,100 cubic metres per second, according to Janez Polajnar of the Environmental Agency.

Upstream, the hardest hit was Dravograd, where Drava and Meža rivers flooded numerous residential and industrial buildings.

During the day, the town was completely isolated, as all road connections were either flooded or buried under land slides. Some primary school pupils were forced to stay in school, as they could not go home.

"Dravograd has suffered a great disaster," Mayor Marijana Cigala told the STA. Apart from a number of homes, the police station, agriculture cooperative and tennis courts have also been flooded.

The municipality has arranged for locals whose homes have been flooded to stay at hotels, according to the mayor. A part of the town has also lost gas supply and has no heating.

In Slovenj Gradec, Mislinja and the smaller Suhadolnica flooded several residential and industrial buildings, among them the premises of Johnson Controls NTU, Nieros Metal and a business zone in Pameče.

The water levels of Drava and its contributories are expected to remain high all through the night, according to Polajnar.

In the municipality of Podvelka, Drava has swept away two holiday homes and ruined the main water supply between Radlje ob Dravi. In Vuzenica, the authorities had to relocate residents from dozen houses.

120 troops have been deployed to help the locals and the disaster relief services, and Defence Minister Aleš Hojs and President Danilo Türk also visited the region today.

In Austria, Drava has flooded an entire village just off the border with Slovenia, while Croatian authorities have launched an evacuation campaign.

Polajnar, who held a press conference in the afternoon to report on water levels across Slovenia, said that the flood wave of the Sava river will reach the border with Croatia at around midnight, blocking the flow of its contributory Krka, which will also start flooding. Hydro power plants on the river have been switched off.

Savinja river will spill outside its usual flooding area near the town of Laško. Savinja's contributories are flooding as well, mostly in the area of Celje and further north.

Soča is no longer rising, but flooding is not over yet. The situation is still critical near the towns of Kanal na Soči and Solkan.

