The death toll from Slovenia’s historic floods has risen to six as clean-up operations continue with the help of European countries, police said on Monday.
Torrential rain has submerged much of the centre and north-east since Thursday, disrupting traffic and causing the “worst natural disaster” since independence in 1991, according to Prime Minister Robert Golob.
On Sunday, a snow-clearing worker fell to his death into a pit, while the body of a second man was found in a river, police told French news agency AFP.
Two Dutch tourists had already lost their lives on Friday and the bodies of two local residents were found on Saturday.
On Monday, rescue workers were still trying to clear routes to the most isolated localities and assess the damage, estimated by the government at more than half a billion euros.
As a member of the European Union (EU) and NATO, Slovenia has requested excavators, modular bridges, helicopters and soldiers.
The first truck carrying humanitarian aid arrived from Hungary late on Sunday, followed by a helicopter, while Croatia and Spain have each provided a helicopter.
On Twitter, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that she would visit the area on Wednesday to “see the destruction” and “discuss EU aid.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his country was sending rescue workers, while expressing his “dismay” at the “terrible catastrophe caused by the floods in Slovenia and Austria.”
The body of a man was fished out of a river in southern Austria’s border region on Sunday, where heavy rain has also caused flooding and landslides.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) believes global warming is making extreme weather events, such as floods, more frequent and intense.
