Macedonia Mourns After Storms Kill 21
Sumaira FH Published August 08, 2016 | 07:53 PM
SKOPJE, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th August, 2016) - Macedonia held a day of mourning Monday after at least 21 people were killed in flooding and violent winds as a freak storm battered the capital Skopje. The city was battered overnight Saturday- Sunday with winds packing speeds of more than 70 kilometres (43 miles) an hour, while torrents of mud and water swept away cars. "Our teams are on the ground, searching the affected terrain," interior ministry spokeswoman Natalija Spirova Kordic told AFP, although she said all those registered missing had been accounted for. Local media said the youngest victim was just one year old and the oldest was 83, but Kordic could not their confirm their ages. A state of emergency declared on Sunday was extended for 15 days in Skopje and the northwestern city of Tetovo, where heavy storms caused damage to property but no casualties. Villages on the northern outskirts of the capital were particularly badly affected. Meteorologists said more than 800 lightning strikes were recorded in the first two hours of the storm, during which the average rainfall for the whole of August fell on Skopje in the space of just two hours.
The subsequent floods reached as high as 1.5 metres (five feet) in some areas. Some of the victims died in their cars as they were rapidly engulfed, while others were unable to flee their homes in time to reach safety. A statement from the European Union expressed "deepest sympathies" and offered assistance to the authorities in Macedonia, home to two million people. The landlocked nation is an EU candidate country, although accession negotiations are yet to get under way. Skopje previously suffered disastrous flooding in 1962, a year before a huge earthquake that almost destroyed the city. In the spring of 2014, the Balkans region was hit by its worst floods in more than a century, which affected 1.6 million people and left 47 people dead in Serbia and Bosnia.
Related Topics
Recent Stories
Cricket: England v West Indies 3rd Test scoreboard
Finance minister briefs Chinese officials on reform agenda, engagement with IMF
Finland says Russian vessel violated its territorial waters
Olympic opening ceremony under way on River Seine
West Indies' treble strike rocks England in third Test
Ukraine court orders detention of suspect in murder of nationalist ex-MP
Long queues, ticketing problems ahead of Paris opening ceremony
Rana Sanaullah Khan joins Paris 2024 Olympics inauguration reception
Glowing tributes mark 69th birthday of President Zardari at Governor's House
Players unaware of spying scandal as Canada Olympic coach sent home: official
Naqvi hails Pak women cricketers for going down fighting against SL
'Sabotage' on French rail network before Olympics: What we know
More Stories From World
-
Biden talks Gaza ceasefire efforts with king of Jordan
5 hours ago -
Sinaloa Cartel co-founder pleads not guilty after stunning US capture
5 hours ago -
Panama says Venezuela blocked ex-presidents going to observe polls
5 hours ago -
Ethiopia mourns victims of landslide tragedy
5 hours ago -
Khan Yunis fighting displaces 180,000 Gazans in four days: UN
5 hours ago -
Trump slams rivals as he meets Netanyahu in Florida
5 hours ago
-
Obama & his wife, Michelle, officially endorse US VP Kamala Harris for president
5 hours ago -
Rain, cooling slow huge blaze in Canada's Jasper park
5 hours ago -
Airbus and Boeing supremacy secure despite turbulence
5 hours ago -
S.African police detain 95 Libyans at suspected military camp
6 hours ago -
'Slapping therapist' guilty over UK diabetic woman's death
6 hours ago -
Panama says Venezuela blocked flight of ex-presidents going to observe polls
6 hours ago