Heavy floods in Bulgaria kill one person, trigger evacuations

Reuters: Rescue teams evacuated over 500 people overnight from the small Bulgarian town of Mizia after torrential rains caused flooding that claimed at least one casualty, an interior ministry official said on Sunday.

Rescue teams with boats and helicopters were still evacuating stranded people on Sunday. One man was found dead in his flooded home, said Nikola Nikolov, head of the ministry's fire safety and civil protection unit.

Over 50 houses have collapsed after the Skut River, which runs through the town, burst its banks. Hundreds of houses remain under water. Another town and several villages in the northwestern area, which is close to the Danube, were also hit by floods.

"It was terrible, terrible. The water kept coming and coming. My home is under water. Luckily I have an aunt who lives in the higher parts of the town. I think we will be at least 30 people in that house tonight," Valia Mircheva, a farmer from Mizia, told BTV television.

The rains have ceased, and weather forecasters say they do not expect heavy rain in the next few days....

A steep rapids in Bulgaria, public domain

Five dead in East Europe flooding

Terra Daily via AFP: Two men reported missing in southern Romania following floods in Eastern Europe were found dead Thursday, taking the regional toll to five, official sources said.

The two bodies were found miles downstream from the area where they were swept away by floodwaters as high as two metres (six and a half feet), in Valcea county, the emergency inspectorate told AFP. A further two men are still missing in Romania, where a first death was reported Wednesday.

Neighbouring Bulgaria also reported two deaths Wednesday after heavy flooding hit the central Gabrovo region....

At least 12 killed in Bulgaria floods

CNN: At least 12 people have died and several are missing after torrential rain and heavy floods hit eastern Bulgaria, officials say. Floodwaters in the Black Sea port city of Varna surged up to 1m (3.2ft). Many residents had to be rescued as cars were swept away. Hundreds have been left without electricity or food.

There have been hailstorms and heavy rain in several parts of Bulgaria in recent days. Forecasts say the extreme weather is set to continue. Ten people died in Varna, including two children. There were also at least another two deaths reported a few miles north in Dobrich, where electricity was down and water was said to be flowing through the streets. Forecasters said that the equivalent of a month's rain fell in the regions of Varna and Burgas over the past 24 hours.

"The tragedy is enormous. I am here on a street in the suburb of Asparuhovo. The street is not here, the houses are not here, there are cars on top of each other," Varna mayor Ivan Portnih was quoted by the Reuters new agency as saying.

Many residents told how they had to clamber on to their roofs to escape the floods. In Dobrich, the River Suha burst its banks and there were fears of a flood surge although authorities said water levels were expected to fall in the coming hours....

A public domain image of flooding in Debovo, Bulgaria, in 2006