Danube floods

Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro

Belgrade looked like Venice this week, as the Danube River rose to its highest level in more than a century. Serbia and Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Romania declared states of emergency, and their militaries evacuated thousands of people from towns and villages. In some areas, soldiers opened dams to divert the flooding from urban areas to farmlands. Romania’s Environment Ministry blamed the floods on unusually heavy rainfall that coincided with the spring thaw. The economic toll is expected to be in the billions of dollars.

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