Flash flooding leaves more than 20 dead

A flooded vehicle is pictured in a ditch by a motorway, after an overnight storm near the village of Stajkovci, just east of Skopje, Macedonia, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2016.

Almost two dozen people were killed and dozens more were injured when torrential rains triggered flash floods in the capital of Macedonia, the Red Cross said Sunday. Six people were reported missing.

“This is a disaster, we have never experienced such a thing”, the AFP news agency quoted Skopje Mayor Koce Trajanovski as saying.

The heavy rain, strong winds and thunderstorms struck Skopje and its northern suburbs late Saturday. On Sunday, the government declared a two-week state of emergency in the area hardest hit by the floods.

“This is a catastrophe of unprecedented magnitude”, Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Todorov told reporters.

“We can officially report 17 people dead and just while ago we have received the reports of three more deaths, so the total number will be probably 20 victims”, Todorov told reporters, adding that numerous injured had fractures and contusions.

The government of Skopje had issued a warning for people to remain in their houses Saturday ahead of the floods, but witnesses said that’s where many people drowned when they became trapped by the wall of water.

The rain had stopped by Sunday morning and water levels receded and though there was more rain on Sunday evening – there were no reports of further flash flooding.

Only cars were allowed down the sections of a highway and a regional road further north near the port of Rijeka.

Disruptions created by the bad weather have created traffic backups, with many tourists trying to reach Croatia’s coastal resorts along the Adriatic Sea.