Balkan floods toll rises amid threat of disease and mines

The death toll from flooding in the Balkans rose to 40 on Monday as emergency services in Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia struggled to house those displaced, reinforce dykes on swollen rivers and begin a massive clean-up operation. In Serbia, more casualties were confirmed since Wednesday. Thirteen of the 20 victims drowned in Obrenovac, a Belgrade borough that has been hardest-hit over the last week. According to dpa, the Serbian Interior Ministry ordered a full evacuation of Obrenovac as the level of the river Sava is expected to rise. Some residents had earlier refused to leave although there has been no power, sanitation and water since Wednesday. A spokeswoman for President Tomislav Nikolic, who visited Krupanj, a town in the west that was hit by flash floods and landslides, said that people were killed there too but gave no details. Some 19 people have died in Bosnia, most of them found in Doboj, and eight people are missing. One person was reported dead in Croatia. The authorities in Belgrade also ordered an emergency evacuation of villages in the area of Sabac amid concerns of further flooding on the Sava.