This day 7 years ago rain started falling that robbed Obrenovac of everything: Anniversary of floods

On this day seven years ago, the floods began in Obrenovac. The water level was rising from minute to minute, and the result was that it eventually reached almost to the roofs of family homes in this Belgrade municipality. Only the tops of street posts could be seen above water. Rescue teams helped using boats, but also from helicopters.

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It rained that day, but no one even suspected that the situation would deteriorate so drastically that a state of emergency would be declared the next day.

Evacuation began in the villages surrounding Obrenovac on May 15. At that time, it did not seem that the situation in the town itself would become so dramatic. A day later, the chaos began. At dawn, the sirens sounded. The water was reaching up to people's ankles. Within a few hours, only the windows of parked cars were visible. Obrenovac neighborhoods had turned into large lakes. Helicopter started to fly over the town.

The boats were moving through Obrenovac on May 17 as the evacuation of the population was in progress. Ground floors of buildings were not visible at all.

Although the locals in certain parts of the town thought that the water would not reach them, it penetrated equally the entire Obrenovac, which is shaped like a funnel,and everyone suffered the same fate.

People could not start returning to their homes before June 1.

About 90 percent of local families lost almost all their property, and 27 people, mostly elderly citizens, drowned. Damage was also done to both infrastructure and material goods.

11,500 properties were destroyed, including 3,500 cars and 7,000 houses, 200 of which were completely demolished, as 1,000 hectares of arable land with crops already sown were left submerged in water.

25,000 people had to be evacuated from Obrenovac alone, and life did not fully return to normal even almost two months later.

(Telegraf.rs)